Books of Truth
by DramaticClimax
Summary: Stuck in a room with no way of escaping except to read the books laid before them, fate grants one boy a chance at living a life he had wished for, with the one person he had been drawn to, time and time again. SLASH
1. BOOKS OF TRUTH CHAPTER ONE

Pre-Story Information

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So, I got a review from Dedication to Runic Healing saying that it was against the rules to have a non-story entry. Okay, merging this and chapter one together then. Gives me a chance to fix that line breaker thing problem (I have such a way with words)! Thank you (for like the third time) for pointing that out!

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**READ THIS PAGE BEFORE YOU READ THE STORY. I have put all legal information for this story into this bit and you will not see it again in the story. IF you do not read this beginning bit and you find something that you deem unsavory, I will not be held accountable for you not reading the information that has been laid out here.**

**Name of Story**: Books of Truth

**Rating**: M/Mature/Adult

**Number of Chapters**: 17

**Summary**: Stuck in a room with no way of escaping except to read the books laid before them, fate grants one boy a chance at living a life he had wished for, with the one person he had been drawn to, time and time again.

**Disclaimer**: I do not and will not ever own any faction of the Harry Potter franchise. I am not writing this to mock or belittle Rowling's work, in truth, I am rather fond of the canon story (minus the Harry/Ginny bit). I am writing this for my own enjoyment and posting it for your entertainment. I am not making money off of this, nor do I plan on doing so ever.

**Main Characters**: Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Voldemort, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Nymphadora Tonks, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood

There will be character bashing. It will include the Weasleys (minus the ones listed above, Charlie and Bill), Hermione Granger, Albus Dumbledore and the Ministry for Magic.

**Pairings**: I am open to pairing suggestions. I am willing to write almost any pairing…to an extent.

Here is a list of pairings I WILL NOT ever even contemplate writing:

Dumbledore/Anyone or thing (ew. Ewno. You cannot make me.)

Filch/Anyone or thing (though I might throw in a couple scenes implying Filch/Mrs. Norris, because I know everyone has thought about it at some point in the series)

Hagrid/Anyone or thing (Minus Madame Maxine. They're just way too adorable)

I think you get my point, right? If you physically shudder at the thought of them together, please don't suggest it. I'd like to keep my meals in my stomach, where they belong…well, until I digest them at least.

**Warnings**: Abuse, Neglect, Violence, Slash, Character Death, Language, Adult Situations, Sexual Themes, Morbid Thinking

If you feel like I forgot to add a warning, please tell me and I will edit this information page as promptly as possible.

**Other Notes**: I know I just reeled you all in with that pooping joke up there. I can feel you all swarming…anyway…

This will be a very dark story. I have a…slightly twisted sense of humor, but I'm sure you all will get used to it.

I'm very pro-Slytherin and it will leak into this story. The only people who I have ever successfully written with only a tiny smidge of Slytherin tendencies is Ron and that's just because it's rather easy to write him as the oaf he is.

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Chapter One

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Harry Potter sat next to his friend, Ronald Weasley, rubbing his temples, trying to stave off a newly emerging headache caused by their incessant bickering. '_I wish they would just bugger each other already and shut the bloody hell up…_' He thought morosely, stabbing at his eggs with a fork. He felt the air shift around him and he looked up to see Luna gliding toward him.

"Hello Harry." She said quietly, looking intently up at the windows that the owls usually flew into. "I can smell change in the air. It's very pungent, almost overwhelmingly so." Her voice came out a little edgier then normal, causing Harry to be on guard. He peered around the hall, catching eyes with a few select people before gesturing discretely, but pointedly at Luna, before staring up at the owl entrances.

Not even five minutes after, there was a flurry of wings as the owls swooped in. Eight people around the hall vanished in thin air the moment their hands touched the parchment of the letters, leaving chaos in their wake.

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At the exact moment the people in Hogwarts received their letters, seven other people in various locations also vanished, no matter what they were doing, leaving no trace of them ever being there at all.

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Back at Hogwarts, Headmaster Dumbledore strode quickly over to the spot his weapon was once sitting.

Untying the letter from a now distinctly ruffled looking owl, he unfurled it. As he read what the letter stated, color slowly drained out of his face.

_You have tempted thee fates for thee last time, Albus. Now you shall get yours._

Rushing from the Great Hall, the old man frantically raced up to his office, hoping beyond hope that the boy wonder would not see through his carefully constructed charade.

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In a dark, dank cave, fifteen people popped in, each looking as ruffled as the next, many cursing the fates and any god that may have possibly been listening. Harry slowly cracked his eyes open, only to slam them shut with a groan. "Well, well. Fancy seeing you here, Potter." Climbing up cautiously, Harry grabbed for his wand, only to hit air. "The fuck?" He cried out, digging deeper into his pocket. He quickly scanned the room, only to find that the occupants were in the same predicament as him, except for Luna, but he was mildly aware that she probably already knew. Walking over to her, he stared at her for only a moment, before she turned her head to the center of the room.

"We shan't keep thy lady waiting, Korakas. She seems rather anxious for the truth to be revealed." Harry nodded slowly, heading over to the center of the room, where a small group of chairs sat, looking quite out of place in the drippy cave. As he drew closer, a small table appeared in the center of the group of chairs, on top of which was a stack of books and a note. Walking cautiously to the note, he tentatively reached out and touched the parchment, letting out a deep sigh of relief when nothing untoward happened to him.

Picking up the letter, he pivoted on his heel, staring at the scene behind him with mild amusement. On one side of the room, stood Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, along with Severus Snape and Voldemort himself, on the other was Ginny, George, Fred, Neville, Sirius, Remus and Tonks, both sides glaring at the other. He glanced over to Luna, who was also glancing between them with very thinly veiled amusement, only just hidden by her normal dreamy façade. "Right…what say you and I read this letter while the children play their games?" Holding the letter tightly in his hands, he skimmed the contents.

_Hello, Korakas._

_I'm sure you and the occupants of the room, minus your Ravenclaw, are wondering why you are here. I have grown weary of watching the events of your life and not doing much of anything to change the course of things._

_You must understand, I'm doing this for you. Not for the 'greater good' as Albus Dumbledore calls it. You have already seen through that man's half-truths, you have already started doubting him._

_Please call the people in the room to sit in the chairs. I have no doubt that they will become one by the end of this._

"Erm…" He started, faltering when he noticed that the two sides seemed to be almost ready to come to blows. He sighed softly and took a deep breath, before yelling, "FREDDRICK WEASLEY. Come here, this instant!" Fred, who had been in a deep glaring match with Severus, looked up quickly, "Yes, mu- HARRY…" He whined, trotting over to the boy, conveniently breaking the death glare match between all of the occupants. "I really…REALLY hate when you do that. You impersonate mum's voice so well, it's almost creepy." Harry cocked an eyebrow, smirking at Fred. "One of my many talents, Dolos." Turning to face the rest of the occupants, he announced, "If you are quite finished…I believe we should sit and figure out a way to get out of this mess. Don't you agree, Deimos?" George nodded, trudging over to Harry. "Now, come! And don't even start with me, I know all of you want to figure a way out of this mess as much as I do and Merlin forbid that we have to get along for long enough to do so." He stated blandly, rolling his eyes.

When only the Gryffindors moved, he groaned in frustration. "Honestly, where is the Slytherin self-preservation? Are you all going to cower against the wall or are you going to get your arses over here and help us get out of this?" He asked snidely, his lip curling. "Careful there, Korakas, your snake side is showing." Neville deadpanned as he plopped down into a chair, causing Harry to cough in amusement. "I'll show you a fucking snake." He growled under his breath. Hearing a snarl, he turned back to the people who were still standing, getting the full brunt of very evil looks. He snorted softly, shrugging his shoulders. "Okay, you can stay standing, I don't give a fuck."

"Language, Mr. Potter." Severus growled out lowly, gritting his teeth. "English, Severus." Harry jibbed, grinning lopsidedly. Sirius howled out in laughter, catching the attention of the Slytherins in the room. Draco's face drained of color and his back pressed further into the wall. Harry blinked before turning to face the people who were sitting. "Right, so this letter basically says that all of this…" he motioned around the room with the hand holding the letter. "Is for me. That it was time for the Sheepherder's half-truths and lies to come out." He giggled softly, before looking down at the letter again, reading out where he had left off.

_Let this be known, the books situated on the table in the center must be read before any of you can leave. I must tell you that there is something Dumbledore has not told you, there is something he has done that is unforgivable, you see Korakas, there is a prophecy, one made for you and Tom Riddle._

Harry tilted his head at that and then stiffened when he heard footsteps from behind him. Peering over his shoulder, he saw Voldemort walking slowly over to the rows of chairs, staring at the letter intently, closely followed by Severus, who looked slightly paler then normal.

_But, I shan't tell you about this until after you have read these books. More incentive to read these, correct? We shall only be going through the first four years of one Harry Potter's schooling, as anything more would either be confusing or showing a glimpse of the future that you were all on before starting this, which even I am not allowed to show._

_I believe you will find that all basic needs will be seen to, just ask when needed and they will be provided._

Neville sat forward and announced, "I really need to use the restroom, may this be seen to?" There was a sudden shift in the ground as four walls sprung up around the boy. Everything was silent for a minute or two, before the walls came down again, with Neville standing in front of the chair. "Well. That is rather useful. It turns into a fully functional and stocked bathroom." Neville murmured as he sat back down in his chair. "Though it is really disconcerting when the chair suddenly turns into a loo underneath you." Harry coughed into his hand and peered around at the rest of the group. "Anyone else need anything?" Ginny jumped up and stated, "I need food! You took us out during breakfast." She stated to the ceiling crossly. There were murmurs of agreement from the people there. Tables appeared in front of everyone, each covered with a different meal. Ginny squealed happily and dug in.

"I think the room provides us with whatever our favorites are, mixed with whatever we're cravings." Harry murmured offhandedly, tucking into his meal as well. "Oh, Harry, that reminds me, why does it seem that the only meat you eat is chicken and fish?" Neville asked, staring down at the plate of food in front of the boy, which was currently devoid of any meat. Harry shrugged, "I don't really know. I just seem to never eat them. Never thought about it." He stared down at his plate. "Eh, now that I think about it, stuff like that has always grossed me out. Probably because that's all my uncle and cousin ate and they're…" He wrinkled his nose, looking over to the twins, who had seen them personally. They both shuddered, "We see-"

"-what you mean, Kor." Harry snorted, glaring at George. "Why in Merlin's name did you decide to shorten my nickname?" George shrugged, grinning widely. Harry stared at him for a moment longer, before turning back to his food. "…Anyway. I guess we should start reading the books. The rest of the note basically just reiterates that we won't be able to leave until we finished reading and states that we should get our wands back when we can leave and that they are safe for the moment. On top of that, if one tries to resort to physical violence, all pain they inflict on their target will be brought back upon him or her tenfold." He finished with a slight shrug.

"That was a brilliant speech Harry." Fred started.

"The shrug at the end-"

"-really brought the whole thing together."

Both twins grinned at Harry, who merely sent them the one finger salute. "Ginny, could you do the honors?" Harry murmured over to Ginny, as she was already done, her table sinking down into the floor. "Right-o!" She giggled out, reaching forward to grab a book. Reading the title, she burst out laughing, clutching her stomach. "Oh Merlin, Kor, just…" She fell into another peal of laughter. Her brothers stood and walked over to the book, reading the title, before they two joined their sister. "What? What is the title?" Gasping for air, Ginny choked out, "The t-title is…" she took a deep breath and grinned at Harry wickedly, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Harry groaned and hit his head against the table, glaring at the Gryffindors, all of whom were laughing at his expense. "Oh, laugh it up. Just have a big old laugh at Harry bloody Potter." He half growled, half murmured, wishing for the floor to eat him up.

He glanced over at the Slytherins, noting that Draco looked like he was just barely holding in his laughter, while the others looked aloof or mildly disgusted. Harry sighed and ran a hand over his face. "Okay, who is going to read first?" Harry asked, looking around. Ginny sighed contently and opened the book, announcing, "I'll go first. We'll pass the book counter-clockwise, everyone should read at least once." Harry nodded, thinking along the same lines. Everyone else made noises of agreement, though many of the Slytherins, minus Narcissa, who looked extremely interested in the books, had a reluctant look on their face.

"So…the first chapter is…**The Boy Who Lived"**

Harry groaned louder, rubbing his head against the table, listening to the crunching noises his nose was making when he pushed it against the table. "Fucking name follows me. Like a bloody ghost. Or Voldemort," The man smirked when he saw almost everyone in the room jerk or shudder at his name, "here." Harry sighed, rolling his head so he could stare at Ginny.

"Wait, I just have one question. Why is Black here? And why are none of you upset that he's here?" Harry glanced at Lucius, giving him a look that clearly said, 'Are you fucking kidding me?' Then glanced at Voldemort, before rolling his eyes. "If my assumptions are correct, that this is a book for every year of school, then you'll probably find out in the third book."

Ginny cleared her throat and stated loudly, "Moving on!" and so, the reading began.

**Mr. and Mrs. Dursley,-**

"WHAT?" Okay, the reading only somewhat began. Ginny glared at Harry for interrupting her. "I'm sorry, but what? Why are they in the story? I thought this was just going to be about school!" Harry asked, frantically trying to grab for the book, only to find himself stuck to the chair. "Who are the Dursleys?" Draco asked, his head cocked in curiosity. George sighed and stated sullenly, "They're Harry's family. Sadly." He peered over at Harry who was intermittently growling at the book and sneering at his chair. "KORAKAS!" Harry started, staring wide-eyed at his brother. "Calm down. I know the room can probably provide us with potions, but I'd really rather not have to force-feed a calming draught down your throat. Need I remind you what happened to me and Dolos the last time?" Harry sighed and nodded, peering guiltily through his fringe. "Oh Kor, we don't like this anymore then you do, but there's no other way of getting out of this, we checked." George held up his hand when Severus started to say something, his face twisted into a sneer.

"We can't tell you how we checked. Not yet anyway. I'm sure you'll find out soon enough." Was the only answer they got to a question unasked.

**-of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.**

"That's just boring." Ginny murmured. Harry nodded sagely, giggling softly. "You have no idea."

**Mr. Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills.**

"What are drills?" Came the question from Draco. Harry faltered, not expecting that question. Furrowing his brow, he thought of the best way to answer. "Er…well…they're…like wands, I guess you could say. Except they only have one purpose, which is to make holes in something, it helps muggles build things, since they very well can't use magic to hold houses together." He stated with a shrug, before adding as an afterthought, "They run on something called Electricity. That in itself is rather hard to explain, but I guess you could call it the muggle version of magic…its what they use to power all of their things." He scratched the back of his head, staring over at his family. "If you're looking for a better explanation, then you should probably look it up in a muggle studies book."

Ginny snickered softly before turning back to the book.

**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbors.**

Severus narrowed his eyes, getting a sinking feeling in his stomach. That description sounded oddly familiar.

**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere.**

All of the Gryffindors snorted, "You know, I think your relative's views are slightly skewed." Ginny stated dryly. Harry chuckled softly, shrugging his shoulders.

**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **

"And why is that?" Narcissa asked softly, furrowing her brow. "I remember Lily. Even though she was Muggleborn, she was still an amazing witch and was always nice to us Slytherins." She sighed, "I do miss her." She peered over at Severus, who seemed to have a pained look on his face. "Many of us do." Harry shrugged, looking sullen. "You'll probably find out soon enough."

**Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister,-**

Severus jumped up, snarling, "That man! When I get my hands on Dumbledore…" He took a deep breath, looking mildly embarrassed as he attempted to keep up his mask. Harry stared at him, his eyebrows in his hairline. "Is there something wrong, Professor?" Ginny coughed out something that sounded roughly like, 'Stupid Question' but was otherwise silent.

The man sighed, turning to look at Harry. "Did you ever look at your parents' will?" Harry's eyes widened as he sat forward. "My parents had a will?" There was a sharp intake of breath from Lucius, "Of course they had a will! They knew there was a possibility that they would die, so they took every necessary precaution to make sure you lived a happy life, even if they weren't there to raise you themselves. I had always wondered why I had never seen the will, but now that I think about it, there is a clause that says that the child of the person or persons in the will must read the will first before anyone else may." Running his hand through his hair, the man stalked back to his seat, resting his head in his hands. "Oh, Albus…you stupid old fool." Harry, mildly confused, asked, "What does any of this have to do with my relatives?"

His head still in his hands, the man gave a slightly muffled reply, "One thing I do know about the will is that it states that under any circumstances, you are never to go to live with your mother's sister. Anyone who knew Lily, knew how much her sister hated magic. How jealous she was of Lily for having magic. If that Mr. Dursley person is anything like her, I can't even imagine…" Harry heard the man's voice catch at the end. Looking over to his friends, who looked just as amazed at the man's ability to show emotions, he gathered his courage and stood up, walking over to the distraught man. Taking his face into his hands, he stared into the man's eyes, slightly startled when he noticed that there were tears gathered in them. "Sir…I don't know how much my mum meant to you, though if your reaction is anything to go by, she certainly meant a lot not only to you, but to many people. Let me just make one thing clear. No matter what you did, no matter your hand in this, you have no blame in me being put with the Dursleys." Lucius noticed that the boy spat the name out like it was poison.

"I don't really understand why you are this upset with this, nor am I asking you to explain it." He released the man's face. "At least not yet." He slipped back to his chair, his hands folded under his chin. "I think Professor Snape needs a moment to regroup himself." The rest of the Gryffindors nodded before covering their eyes with their hands, giggling like mad.

The Slytherins stared at them, before Draco started to chuckle softly, hiding his smile behind his hand. Harry gasped, peeking out from between his fingers. "Hell hath frozen over! Draco Malfoy is not only smiling, note smiling, not smirking, but laughing!" Harry announced loudly, causing all of the Gryffindors to drop their hands to watch Draco. "Such an amazing sight! The Draco Malfoy relaxed in an unnatural habitat for it!" Ginny stage whispered, causing the other Gryffindors to keel over with laughter. Severus coughed into his hand, remembering the muggle animal shows that he and Lily used to watch.

It took ten minutes for them to calm down and thirty more minutes to explain what had been so funny about Ginny's statement. Soon, with a pouting Draco Malfoy, his parents just barely hiding their amusement and both Voldemort and Severus hiding their faces somehow ("I didn't know that Voldemort could laugh, either…") with just their hands, the Gryffindors all peered at the book, in favor of patting themselves on the back for a mission accomplished, while Luna stared on dreamily, secretly rejoicing that Fate's plan already seemed to be in motion.

**-but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister,-**

"And Lily pretended she didn't have a sister as well." Severus murmured softly.

**-because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband-**

Sirius and surprisingly Remus let out loud growls at the book, Remus' eyes flashing Amber.

**-were as unDursleyish-**

"That is not a word!" Came the indignant cry from Voldemort. "Stupid muggles."

**-as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbors would say if the Potters arrived in the street.**

"Which is rather funny, seeing as the neighbors really never had anything nice to say about the Dursleys." Harry stated softly, mildly amused.

**The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they didn't want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**

"A child like what, Harry?" Sirius asked, peering over at Harry, who just shook his head quickly, curling his legs up into his chest, wrapping his arms around them.

**When Mr. and Mrs. Dursley woke up on the dull, gray Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. Mr. Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work,-**

"All of his ties were boring. I wonder how he managed to find one that was more boring then the next." Harry mused, a smirk stretching across his face as he remembered what he had done to one of Vernon's ties.

**-and Mrs. Dursley gossiped away happily as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**

"That sounds absolutely lovely." Narcissa said sarcastically, staring at the book in disdain.

**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window.**

"Why was an owl flying in a muggle neighborhood in broad daylight?" Sirius asked to himself, a small tingling of dread creeping into his stomach. No owls had ever acted like that until…_that_…day.

**At half past eight, Mr. Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs. Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls.**

"How awful! What an absolutely horrid child." Narcissa muttered, gripping the arms of her chair. For any other child to be raised around that boy…She glanced over at Harry, who was staring into space as he listened to Ginevra read.

"**Little tyke," chortled Mr. Dursley as he left the house. He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive.**

**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar — a cat reading a map.**

Harry snorted, "That's gotta be Professor McGonagall." The other people in the room, minus Voldemort, nodded in Amusement. Voldemort looked on in confusion, but didn't voice his question.

**For a second, Mr. Dursley didn't realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there wasn't a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? It must have been a trick of the light.**

"A trick of light? He cannot be that stupid." Lucius pondered in bemusement, his eyebrow cocked slightly. "Oh, I assure you," Harry started, shaking his head, "there are no limits to stupidity when it comes to the Dursleys."

**Mr. Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr. Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, **_**looking**_** at the sign; cats couldn't read maps **_**or**_** signs. Mr. Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**

"I wonder if he got that order of drills." Harry wondered, tilting his head slightly. "He was always in a good mood when he got a shipment of drills." He stated offhandedly when he noticed the looks he was receiving.

**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he couldn't help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks.**

"How is that strange?" Lucius asked, his lip slightly curled. Harry glanced over at the man and asked, "Does muggle clothing seem strange to you?" At Lucius' nod, he continued, "Then isn't is safe to assume that clothing of the Wizarding World would seem strange to muggles?" The man thought for a moment, before nodding slowly. "I guess I never looked at it that way, Mr. Potter. I take it that that is why we wizards wear muggle styles when we go into a place that is densely packed with muggles." Harry made a noncommittal sound. "I believe that is more because of the Statute of Secrecy, Mr. Malfoy. I really do believe that wizards should pay more attention to that. It is also why I don't particularly agree with your," he stared pointedly at Voldemort, "methods. I agree with your cause, but not the means you take to achieve the ends." He tilted his head, "Muggles are…dangerous." He heard Draco snort, "How could they be dangerous, Potter?"

Harry sighed, running his fingers through his hair, "Just because the wizarding world has stayed predominantly the same through the years, doesn't mean the muggle world has as well. Most Purebloods and some Halfbloods have a shaky understanding of the dangers of muggles, at best. Though most, like you, generally think the need to separate muggles from wizards is because they are, quote, unquote, beneath you," Harry sneered at Draco, "if anything, muggles are stronger then us, because they, unlike wizards, must adapt to their surroundings, adapt to life without magic. And they do, they do so rather easily."

"But I guess that doesn't explain why muggles are dangerous…okay, you all know about the witch hunts, yes? That they found a way past being burnt at the stake, right?" The purebloods nodded, Sirius sat up in his chair, this being the first time he had ever heard Harry's point of view on the war. "Well, they don't burn people at the stake anymore. You'd be lucky to get that. Muggles can do so much now. I'm sure you've all heard about guns, right? Maybe not what they do, but what they are." When he received the expected nods, he paused, thinking over how to best explain it, suddenly getting an idea, he asked the room, "If I were to harm someone for a demonstration, would you heal them before anything too bad happened to them?" A note appeared on his table as he asked. Picking it up, he read, _only if you explain it to them, childe_. Harry nodded and stated, "Of course." Standing up, he took off his school robe and walked over to where everyone had dropped his or her bags, sifting through the contents of his own.

He pulled out something metal, walking back over to the chairs, he held it up saying, "This…is a gun." The Slytherins stared on, unimpressed. "Now, I need whoever has the highest levels of magic to come stand here." He said, pointing at the spot in front of him. Voldemort stood, walking over to stand in front of Harry. "Okay…well, first, I really want to know why my scar isn't hurting, I've actually been wondering that since I realized it wasn't…though, I guess it probably has something to do with this room…anyway…" He rubbed his scar in frustration, before drawing himself up. "Okay, walk that way about ten steps." The older man nodded, slowly walking the required amount. "Now, bring up a basic shield, one any _normal_ wizard would use. I know you can do basic shield spells without a wand, because I can, so c'mon."

Voldemort sneered, but did what the boy said, letting the shield shimmer, showing that it was the same shield that was taught in DADA. "Right. Now, this…will hurt. Quite a bit, actually, but the room has assured me that it will heal you, most likely just this once, so I would suggest not moving." He flipped the safety off of the gun and raised it, pointing it at a non-lethal point of the body and pulling the trigger. Lowering the gun, he watched as the bullet broke through the shield and entered into the body, making the man crumple forward. "Before you get healed, I'd like for everyone to see the damage done by the bullet. So…" He walked over to the man, hesitating for only a moment, before pulling him up slowly and walking him over to the center, where the table and books had once stood. "Do you have anything on under those robes?" Harry asked casually, staring at the man who was in obvious pain.

"Of course I do, Potter! Now hurry up." Voldemort gritted out. He undid the man's robes snaking his arm under them, he pulled them off, letting them drop to the floor, showing a basic button up shirt and black slacks with a black pair of loafers. The shirt was slowly turning red as the wound in his stomach bled more. Harry then moved to the buttons of the man's shirt, blushing slightly, he unbuttoned only enough so that the people would be able to see the entry wound. "Now, you see here," he pointed at the wound, "this is in a very neutral spot. Meaning that while it is still painful, it is not as bad as other spots and isn't lethal if seen to. If I had…shot him here," He pointed a bloodied hand to between the man's eyes, "He would have been dead the moment the bullet went into his brain." He sat the Dark Lord in his chair, stating to the room that it was okay to heal him now, he continued, "the only shields that protect against bullets take more power then an average wizard can create, not only that, but they usually require blood from the caster. Furthermore, when it comes to guns, no one gun is the same. This gun," He waved his around, checking to make sure his safety was back on, "is a simple handgun."

"A shot gun has bullets that implode on impact, causing a wider range of damage and guns really are the cleanest weapon at a muggle's disposal." He said calmly as he walked back to his bag, tucking the gun back inside. "Potter…why exactly do you have that in your school bag?" Harry snorted, cocking his eyebrow, "I have an evil madman after me, some insane shit happens to me every year, I've almost died more times then I can count and that's not even counting Hagrid's choice of pets." He finished with a shudder. "Really, I thought it would've been obvious." Harry leaned back, watching Voldemort compose himself. "Well, wouldn't that be an even greater reason to rid the world of muggles?" Harry shook his head at Draco's question, "No. There is no real way to get rid of all muggles, it is said that a new muggle is born every three seconds. There are over 5 billion people in the world and wizards make up about 10% of that, maybe less. There is no real way to be rid of them. We can separate ourselves from them, but it is rather asinine to think that we wizards can be rid of all of them." The Purebloods and Voldemort all looked mildly disturbed at this, not thinking about it in that sense. "But, I believe we can continue this discussion later." Peering over at Ginny, who nodded and began to read again.

**Mr. Dursley couldn't bear people who dressed in funny clothes – **

"He seems to forget that his clothes look like a circus tent." George muttered, causing Fred to choke on the drink that had appeared for him.

**-the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdos standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. Mr. Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him!**

"Seems rather silly to become that upset over clothes that he deems as abnormal." Narcissa said absently, still mulling over the information that Harry had given them. Harry glanced over at her and said, "Many of the things that sent him into a rage are rather stupid. You get used to it."

**But then it struck Mr. Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something…yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr. Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills.**

"How simple minded." This came from Tonks, whose hair had been shifting colors constantly. "You know, Tonks," Harry started, a sly grin slipping onto his face, "Your hair is the perfect mood ring." Tonks giggled, her hair changing to a light pink. Both of them ignoring the bemused looks coming from everyone else.

**Mr. Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he hadn't, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_**He**_** didn't see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open-mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at nighttime.**

"Really? How do they send mail, then?" Lucius asked, his voice tinted with intrigue. "There are muggles who are paid to deliver mail to other muggles, usually sending it once a day." Harry answered, shifting in his seat to lay his legs out over the arms.

**Mr. Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more.**

"And that…" Harry stated loudly, "Is the summary of the life of a one Vernon Dursley." Fred and George chuckled and added, "Unless me and Dolos come through their chimney." Harry snorted, thinking back to the Ton-Tongue Toffee. "The fat lard learned to not eat anything and everything laying around. We did his flabby arse a favor." Harry giggled softly, then sighed, "It would've been better if your dad hadn't fixed it, though. Could you imagine? The fat fuck dying from eating." Harry, Fred and George all sighed and snuggled into their seats, oblivious to their surroundings for the moment.

**He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he'd stretch his legs and walk across the road to buy himself a bun from the bakery.**

"Wow. I didn't know he could walk that far." Harry mused. Fred and George shook their heads in disbelief. "I wonder if he had to stop on the way there." Harry giggled and replied, "Probably more then once."

**He'd forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He didn't know why, but they made him uneasy. This bunch were whispering excitedly, too, and he couldn't see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying.**

"**The Potters, that's right, that's what I heard —"**

"— **yes, their son, Harry —"**

There were a couple gasps in the room as it dawned on the people just what day this was. Sirius and Remus bowed their heads in remembrance, Sirius letting out a low whine in the back of his throat.

**Mr. Dursley stopped dead.**

"Too bad he didn't really." Harry sneered. Fred and George glanced at each other, and then stared at Harry.

"Dear Brother…"

"That can certainly be arranged." George finished with an evil grin. Harry smirked at them and replied, "As long as I can come along." Giggling sadistically, he turned back to Ginny, who was smothering her laughter with the back of her hand.

"My brothers. I do believe you have scared the Slytherins and adults." Luna stated offhandedly, sitting cross-legged in her chair. Glancing over at them, Harry just murmured, "You'll find out soon enough, I dare say."

**Fear flooded him. He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**

**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialing his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his mustache, thinking…no, he was being stupid. Potter wasn't such an unusual name.**

Lucius scoffed. "Maybe not in the muggle world, but in the wizarding world there is only one line of Potters."

**He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he wasn't even sure his nephew **_**was**_** called Harry.**

"I'm not really sure he knows my name even now. No doubt he's been told numerous times, but I think he's just too stupid for such things." Harry tilted his head, tapping his bottom lip.

**He'd never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold. There was no point in worrying Mrs. Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He didn't blame her - if **_**he'd**_** had**__**a sister like that…**

"Like what?" Narcissa asked, curious. Biting his lip, Harry peered at the woman through his fringe. "People like us, Ma'am." He said softly with a shrug.

**-but all the same, those people in cloaks …**

**He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**

"**Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr. Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He didn't seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passersby stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!"**

Harry giggled, causing more then one person in the room to start. "That has _got_ to be Diggle or Professor Flitwick. Only they could get that excited over anything. Granted, Diggle only has a high pitched voice…but still." Lucius stared at Harry, his brow furrowed, "How do you know Dedalus?" Harry snorted, shaking his head. "I met him once when I was six or seven, he came up to me and shook my hand and then again when I was eleven. Those two times were more then enough for me for one lifetime, thank you very much. That man reminds me of an adult version of Creevy." Harry shuddered, grimacing. "That kid is nice and all, but Merlin, he scares me at the best of times. Hey Deimos, remember that one time?" He peered over at George, "You mean the one…" Harry nodded, causing both Fred and George to shudder. "I doubt that centaur will ever be fully healed from that." Draco stared openly at them, before stating loudly, "I don't think I even wish to know." Which was wholeheartedly agreed with by the rest of the people in the room.

**And the old man hugged Mr. Dursley around the middle and walked off.**

Ginny paused for a moment. "I highly doubt anyone could wrap their arms all the way around that fat fuck's middle." She murmured, her eyebrows up in her hairline. Some of the Gryffindors snickered. "I'm still trying to figure out how he finds clothes that fit."

**Mr. Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. **

"That would be what you are, Mr. Dursley." Severus stated to the book, forgetting that the man couldn't actually hear him.

**He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he didn't approve of imagination.**

"Just how many things did that man not approve of?" was the question that came from Remus. "Oh, I have no idea, Moony. Not even the foggiest, really. I think it would be easier to list the things he does approve of." Harry answered dryly, causing people around him to snort in amusement.

"Goodness. How did you survive with people like that?" asked Draco. Harry stilled, worrying his lip. "Well, like with many questions, I'm sure you will find out soon enough."

**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it didn't improve his mood - was the tabby cat he'd spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes.**

"**Shoo!" said Mr. Dursley loudly.**

**The cat didn't move. It just gave him a stern look.**

"Yup. Definitely McGonagall." Chortled Fred.

**Was this normal cat behavior? Mr. Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife.**

**Mrs. Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs. Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").**

"Wow, I thought that would've been his first word." George wondered, his eyes wide. Harry shook his head and stated, "No, I think his first word was fuck." Fred choked on the drink he had been sipping, coughing and laughing at the same time. After he had recovered, he glared over at Harry, "I swear you wait to say things like that for when I'm drinking something." Harry looked over at him, batting his eyes innocently. "What? Me? Never!" Ginny giggled, her face pressed into the book before composing herself and continuing on.

**Mr. Dursley tried to act normally. When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:**

"**And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern." The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**

"**Well, Ted," said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they've had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early — it's not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight."**

Harry hummed.

**Mr. Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters…**

**Mrs. Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He'd have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er — Petunia, dear — you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?"**

**As he had expected, Mrs. Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she didn't have a sister.**

"**No," she said sharply. "Why?"**

"**Funny stuff on the news," Mr. Dursley mumbled. "Owls … shooting stars … and there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today…"**

"_**So**_**?" snapped Mrs. Dursley.**

"**Well, I just thought…maybe…it was something to do with…you know…**_**her**_** crowd."**

**Mrs. Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips.**

Ginny faltered, gaping at the book. "Is that even possible?" She asked, blinking in shock. Harry, who was shifting around to sit upside down, answered, "Dunno, I think I've seen Granger do it a couple times." Draco sat up, staring at Harry hard. "Why did you call her Granger? Aren't you and the Weasel all best friends or something?" Harry snorted. "Or something. Dumbledore pays them to keep tabs on me." He said, shrugging lightly. "Both me and them understand that it isn't real friendship, even if they don't know that I know." The rest of the children, minus Draco, nodded their heads. Sirius shot up, "Harry…" He growled softly, staring at him, "just how much of your life has that old goat orchestrated?"

Harry tapped his lips in thought before answering, "Almost all of it. He can't control my thoughts and conceptions anymore, spells and potions only work for so long." He tilted his head, "They only worked for half of my first year and they didn't work that well. If anyone has heard the rumors, I can throw off an Imperio. If I can throw that off, mind altering potions and spells are like child's play, no matter how much power is put into them." Harry chuckled softly. "It's just easier to act like the golden boy people want me to be, though, I found a way around being that way all the time in second year."

He finished that sentence with a meaningful glance to Lucius, who sunk down in his seat. "Going by your reactions, you haven't told him, is that correct." The man stilled, and then gave a sharp nod. Harry grinned maliciously, before a smug look pulled across his face. "Don't worry, Lucius, I won't tell him, I'll let the book do the talking for me." He giggled, turning his head to Ginny. "Though, I really do have to thank you. You unlocked a very special part of my sister with that. Before that, she had been just an annoying little sister from a family under Dumbledore's thumb, but really, it's amazing what a little possession can do for a person's personality." The Gryffindor children all laughed, while Luna's dreamy smile stretched that much wider.

"Potter, what are you getting at?" Came from Voldemort, sounding slightly impatient. "Oh don't worry, you'll find out when we read the second book. If you really want to find out, I suggest we get back to reading." When Voldemort motioned for them to do so, Ginny brought the book back up and started where she had left off.

**Mr. Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he'd heard the name "Potter." He decided he didn't dare. Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son - he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?"**

"No, me and him were just born in the same year." Harry muttered sardonically.

"**I suppose so," said Mrs. Dursley stiffly.**

"**What's his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**

"**Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me."**

"I have to agree with that. It is rather odd that the heir of a Pureblood family was named something as common as my name." Harry murmured. "Well, it was your grandfather's name." Harry nodded, replying, "See? Why would they name their child Harry? He was purely Pureblood, so I don't see why." The adults in the room couldn't help but admit that it was a tad bit strange.

"**Oh, yes," said Mr. Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree."**

**He didn't say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs. Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr. Dursley crept- **

"I've seen that man trying to be sneaky. Let me tell you, it's no where near as effective as it is funny." Harry grinned, thinking back to all the times when his uncle had tried to sneak around.

**-to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something.**

"It probably was." Severus said, thinking back to Minerva. That woman could stay in one place for days if she was waiting for something, only moving for basic needs.

**Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did…if it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he didn't think he could bear it.**

Lucius sneered at the book, "I'm really starting to dislike your relatives, Potter." Harry blinked, glancing over at him. "Join the club." Was the chorused reply.

**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs. Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr. Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters **_**were **_**involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs. Dursley.**

"That would be the basis of a very false assumption." Came the sneering observation from Harry.

**The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind…He couldn't see how he and Petunia could get mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it couldn't affect **_**them**_**…**

**How very wrong he was.**

Harry giggled, "Very wrong indeeeeed."

**Mr. Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, nor when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all.**

**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you'd have thought he'd just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed.**

Severus started to get a sinking feeling of suspicion, gripping the arms of his chair, he leaned forward slightly, glaring at the book.

**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**

"That stupid old bastard!" Snape raged. "That manipulative old coot…" He panted hard, trying to get his temper in check.

"Wait, his nose is crooked?" Ginny asked, her eyes wide. Harry nodded, "I noticed it the first time I saw him. It's rather prominent, if you ask me." George looked over at Harry, "Always looking for weaknesses in a person, eh, Kor?" Harry shrugged and nodded. "Noses that have been broken and not set correctly break easiest. It's the easiest way to bring someone down if you cannot rely on magic."

"Mr. Potter…that is actually…amazing logic." Voldemort said, looking slightly pained. "Very Slytherin, in all honesty." Harry just grinned lazily. "You don't know the half of it, Tom Tom." Harry chuckled softly when the other man's face twisted into a sneer. "Oh, come off it, it's not _that _bad of a name. It's certainly better then _Voldemort_, I mean, do you know how many nicknames I've made from your pseudo name? Almost as many as I have from Dumbledore's name." Fred nodded, "Some of them are pretty offensive, if said to the person. OH! Deimos, dear brother, do you remember the time when…"

George nodded, while Harry chuckled even harder. "Oh merlin, I thought I would never see that old man flustered…" Ginny grinned at both of them before continuing with the story.

**Albus Dumbledore didn't seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome.**

Sneering, Lucius muttered, "His sense of style is unwelcome just about anywhere."

**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**

**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him.**

"I always wondered how he did that. He could douse an entire room with darkness without wasting any of his magic." Came from Voldemort, looking slightly miffed. The Twins grinned.

"We can, too." The said at the same time. "Just a pinch of this," Fred pulled out a bag from his pocket.

"-and you're guaranteed a good five minutes of-"

"-complete darkness for everyone except you." The twins stated happily, Fred tucking the bag back in his pants. "Oh, but there is the small issue being that if you cast a Lumos directly in front of anyone whilst inside the dust powder, they seem to become blind for an upward of 4 hours." They said in unison with twin maniacal grins on their faces.

**If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs. Dursley, they wouldn't be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. He didn't look at it, but after a moment he spoke to it.**

"**Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall."**

**He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled.**

"She really should learn to be less obvious." Snape said, shaking his head. Harry snorted and replied, "Oh, but Professor, she wouldn't be the head of Gryffindor if she was any less obvious." He winked to his professor, who stared at his student, wondering just how he missed the subtle hints of Slytherin that seemed to scream throughout his personality.

"**How did you know it was me?" she asked.**

"**My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**

"I've never seen a person sit as stiffly as she does, to be completely honest." Neville murmured, his eyebrows raised slightly.

"**You'd be stiff if you'd been sitting on a brick wall all day," said Professor McGonagall.**

"**All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here."**

**Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily.**

"Just…how?" Draco asked, staring at the book. Harry shrugged, "We have yet to figure it out."

"**Oh yes, everyone's celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news." She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls…shooting stars…Well, they're not completely stupid. They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I'll bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense."**

Lucius rolled his eyes, making a noise of agreement.

"**You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We've had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**

"**I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "But that's no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumors."**

**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he didn't, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really **_**has**_** gone, Dumbledore?"**

All side conversations stilled at this point, everyone listening closely to the story.

"**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop?"**

Harry snorted, "Anyone else know that he spikes those things with a mild hallucinogen? Well, the ones he eats, at least. The ones he feeds people in his office are laced with truth serums and a potion that makes the person believe that everything he says while the potion is in effect is 100% correct." Many of the adults in the room looked a mix of dumbfounded and slightly green.

"How did you find out about that?" Severus asked. Harry shook his head slowly, "You'll find out soon enough, Professor."

"Why does he pick lemon flavor, though?" came from Draco, who got a swat on the back of his head from his godfather. "Think, Draconis. What are the strongest flavors you can think of?" Draco made a noise of revelation, so Severus continued. "Now, out of those, what has never reacted with any other ingredient in the potion, besides the flavor?" Draco merely smacked his hand against his forehead, before leaning back and berating himself for forgetting such an easily remembered thing.

"**A **_**what**_**?"**

"**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of."**

"**No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she didn't think this was the moment for lemon drops.**

"It really isn't." Narcissa murmured.

"**As I say, even if You-Know-Who **_**has**_** gone -"**

"**My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like yourself can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: **_**Voldemort.**_**"**

The Gryffindors giggled at the preening look Voldemort gave when the people around him flinched violently.

**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who.' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name."**

Harry rolled his eyes. "Fighting a fear mongering tactic with a humble, but greater then thou tactic." Neville snorted, reaching over to grab Luna's hand, who smiled serenely at him. It was quiet for a moment, before Luna spoke up, "Better to rule the world with, my dear boy." Everyone stared at Luna for a moment, before the Gryffindor children keeled over with laughter, whose serene smile took a slightly smug quality to it.

Once everyone had calmed down, Harry tilted his head in thought and then leaned over to Fred, saying only loud enough for him to hear, "D'you think the book is gonna talk about our glamours?" Fred just shrugged and replied, "Most likely Kor. Though yours is probably going to be revealed before ours." Harry sighed and nodded sullenly.

"**I know you haven't," said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. "But you're different. Everyone knows you're the only one You-Know- oh, all right, **_**Voldemort, **_**was frightened of."**

"What? I most certainly am **not **frightened of him!" Voldemort snarled, gripping his armrests. "Is that really what he says about me?" Everyone in the room nodded, Harry snickering behind his hand. "I don't see how anyone could be afraid of him. I mean, really, he may have been the most powerful wizard back in his prime, but he's 150-ish bloody years old." He sighed, shaking his head.

"**You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**

Voldemort nodded. "Like wandless elemental magic." The Gryffindor children sat up and stared at the man. "You mean, he's not powerful enough to be an elemental?" Voldemort shook his head. All of the Gryffindor children were still for a moment before they all burst out in laughter. "Oh, that is just too rich!" Ginny squealed in delight. As soon as they had calmed down and waved off all questions, Ginny continued with the reading.

"**Only because you're too - well - **_**noble **_**to use them."**

Ginny paused, her brow furrowed. "Noble is **not **something that should be used for Dumbledore." This statement was met with a few murmurs of agreement before Ginny continued on.

"**It's lucky its dark. I haven't blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs."**

There was a mass shuddering that went throughout the room. "Never…" Fred murmured pausing for a moment, "Never in my life have I heard something quite as terrifying." Harry snorted and leaned over, whispering something in his ear. He sat ramrod straight and stared wide-eyed at the raven-haired boy. "I stand corrected."

**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the **_**rumors **_**that are flying around. You know what everyone's saying? About why he's disappeared? About what finally stopped him?"**

There was a pitiful moaning that came from one of the adult Gryffindors, but no one was really paying much attention.

**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for neither as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer.**

"**What they're **_**saying,**_**"**__**she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumor is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they're - **_**dead.**_**"**

"And the winner for the person with the most tact goes to…" Harry murmured, curling his legs up against his chest.

**Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped.**

"**Lily and James…I can't believe it…I didn't want to believe it…Oh, Albus…"**

**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know…I know…" he said heavily.**

**Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They're saying he tried to kill the Potters' son, Harry. But - he couldn't. He couldn't kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why he's gone."**

"Say, did anyone actually figure that out?" Harry nodded slowly. "I have, but I'm not saying anything, because it's really nothing more then a theory. You know what Dumbledore told me?" When he received a negative answer, he continued, "He told me that it was my mother's love and sacrifice that protected me. Now, I don't know how powerful my mother was, but I'm more then certain that if she was with my father, that she tended to stay away from dark arts, including blood rituals." Harry tilted his head. "So, there's no chance that that is what actually happened." He shrugged.

**Dumbledore nodded glumly.**

"**It's - it's **_**true**_**?"**__**faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done…all the people he's killed…he couldn't kill a little boy? It's just astounding…of all the things to stop him…but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**

"**We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know."**

"Except if you're me." Harry deadpanned.

**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**

"**Yes," said Professor McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me **_**why **_**you're here, of all places?"**

"**I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They're the only family he has left now."**

"**You don't mean - you **_**can't **_**mean the people who live **_**here**_**?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you can't. I've been watching them all day. You couldn't find two people who are less like us. And they've got this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!"**

Harry's eyebrows shot up. "Wait, someone actually fought for me?" Lucius started and stared at the boy. "Many people did. Even me and Cissa, though most of the people only wanted you for your fame. Dumbledore was actually the one that went through every family and denied each one."

Harry sighed, "Even if Sirius here had not gone to Azkaban, I'm sure I still would've been sent to the Dursleys. It's a good move, I'll admit." He then rest his head on his knee and motioned for Ginny to continue.

"**It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I've written them a letter."**

The room was silent for a moment before Sirius started cursing under his breath. Ginny gaped at the man for a moment, before turning back to the book.

"**A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter? These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter Day in the future" **

Harry's head shot up. "Please tell me there isn't. Oh please." He buried his face into his lap, while the people around the room snickered. "There was for a couple years, actually. But no one really knew what to do except drink or mourn the Potters, so it was disbanded." Harry snorted lightly and responded, "Thank Merlin for small miracles."

"**there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!"**

"Unfortunatly."

"**Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he won't even remember! Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?"**

Harry tilted his head, "I can see why he is so powerful amongst the wizarding kind. He says things in a way that brook absolutely no argument, with the backer of being wizened, therefor seen as knowledgeable beyond most other's years." He bounced his chin against his knee. He peered over at Voldemort. "You know, if seeing as my entire life is out on display, I'll just tell you this now. If you hadn't killed my parents, I'd probably be on your side." Choking sounds filled the room, Voldemort and his death eaters were doing an excellent impersonation of a fish. "What? Both you and Dumbledore seem to want to kill me, but you at least tell me beforehand." He said dryly. Once Voldemort had recovered, he said lightly, "I'm not going to apologize for killing them, as I'm now sure you don't want that anyway, but I will tell you, I did not wish to kill your mother." Harry nodded, running over his memory of that night. "You asked her twice to step aside, right?"

Voldemort nodded, causing a strangled sound to emit from Severus. He turned to Severus and stated, "Yes, I did indeed attempt to keep her from dying, but she was stubborn and I had only seen it as a means to an end at the time. No matter the outcome, I do keep promises that I make to my followers. Fear and power may be what draws them in at first, but I do have more tactics then that to get a person to stay by my side." Ginny, who had been neutral since she had been possessed by Tom, said, "We can discuss loyalties and other such matters after the reading of the books and finding out whatever secrets sent us here in the first place." With that, she continued on.

**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it.**

Someone in the room snorted, but no one seemed to have a comment for that.

"**Hagrid's bringing him."**

"**You think it - **_**wise **_**- to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?"**

Narcissa gasped. "He actually sent that man to pick up a child?" Harry nodded, agreeing with the sentiment.

"**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore.**

"**I'm not saying his heart isn't in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**

"Your last egg dropping from your ovaries." Ginny cracked, causing the Gryffindors and Severus to cover their faces in amusement.

"You know, when I was in first year, I always wondered how she sat so straight. I mean, her posture is almost unnatural…" Harry pondered, looking over at Ginny. "I came to the conclusion that she has a very long stick rammed up her arse, which would explain why she's such a stuck up bitch all the time." The adults and Draco gaped at Harry, never had they heard the supposed Golden Boy speak in such a way, especially against the Head of Gryffindor house.

**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them.**

"OH! I had totally forgotten about that! I should ask him what he did with that." Harry sent a smug smile over to the twins, who smothered their laughter with their hands. "What I want to know is why Gryffindors seem so bloody fascinated with flying motor vehicles." Harry stated dryly, ignoring the questioning glances.

**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so **_**wild**_** - long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. **

George chuckled, "I think this book is adapted to your thinking, Kor. It seems to explain things the way you do." There were sounds of amused agreement and Neville added, "It took me until halfway through second year to understand your explanations." Harry merely cracked a grin.

**In his vast, muscular arms he was holding a bundle of blankets.**

"Hey, its you! In bundle form." Harry smothered his giggles in his knees. "I'll show you bundle form." He rebutted, causing the Gryffindor children to snort in amusement.

"**Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**

"**Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I've got him, sir."**

"YAY ME!" Sirius cried, leaping up, before blushing bright red and sitting back down quickly.

"**No problems, were there?"**

"**No, sir — house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol."**

Ginny paused and then turned to Harry, "Which proves my point that you can fall asleep in even the weirdest of situations." Harry tossed his hands up in defeat, blushing softly.

**Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning.**

Harry pulled a face and flattened his fringe against his scar. An action that wasn't missed by Severus.

"**Is that where - ?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**

"No, it's just a weird shaped scar that randomly appeared the day I rebounded the bloody killing curse. A fashion statement, you know? All babies should have a curse scar that gives them a bloody headache every bloody time an evil dark overlord gets pissed off." Harry groused, rubbing his scar.

Voldemort shot up and stared at the boys scar. "You said you can feel emotions through that?" Harry nodded, his eyebrow quirked, "Only really strong ones, though." The Dark Lord's brow furrowed as he stood up, walking over to the boy. "Okay…tell me what you feel." He then closed his eyes and seemed to go into a deep concentration. Harry gasped as a sharp pain laced through his body, followed by a deep sense of regret. Regret for killing one woman. Regret for killing his mother. Harry sucked in a deep, shuddering breath, "Regret. I feel regret." Voldemort nodded slowly. "I think…" He touched the boy's scar, feeling the boy shiver as the scar quivered under his touch. "Yes, that must be it…but how?" The man wondered out loud. He peered over at Severus, his eyes wide, who sat up. "You don't think…? But there has never been an animated Horcrux! Except Nagini, but…oh. She was an accident."

"Er…" Harry started, swallowing thickly, trying to ignore the older man's close proximity and the fact that said proximity didn't seem to cause him pain anymore, "What is a Horcrux, if you don't mind me asking?" Voldmort bit his non-lips in a surprisingly human gesture, contemplating on whether to tell the boy or not. He sighed and stated, "When a person kills another living being, especially if said living being is another person, their soul splits, as murder is the highest form of treason against nature. When said soul splits, there is a way that a piece of that soul can be transferred into another object, by ritual. This object that is used to contain the soul shard is called a Horcrux." Harry nodded slowly, piecing this bit of information together, adding it to what he already knew, "Okay…if a piece of said soul were to say…come in contact with a pure, virginal girl, what would happen?" Ginny made a noise of indignation, but was otherwise quiet.

"Well…as with all dark magic, the soul piece will begin to corrupt the pure being. If left to continue for a long enough time, part of the person's soul will be destroyed for the rest of their days." Ginny gaped at the man, before smiling. "Wicked!" She exclaimed, hugging herself proudly. Harry smirked amusedly at her, then peered over at Lucius, who looked to be having an internal struggle of sorts. "Oh, calm down, Mr. Malfoy. Really, I think she's happy for what you did. If you hadn't she might have been under Dumbledore's thumb for the rest of her life! So, don't throw a pity party just yet, Voldie here" He poked Voldemort who was looking rather scandalized, "hasn't even figured it out yet, so calm the fuck down before your knickers get twisted. And no, we're not telling you anything, because I want to see your reaction when you find out from the book." The last bit directed at Voldemort who had opened his mouth. The older man brushed himself off, slightly miffed and walked back over to his seat. Ginny noted the longing expression coming from Harry as the man left.

Glancing over to her brothers and sister, she knew she wasn't the only one. She leaned over to Neville, "I noticed this before, Harry has always been drawn to his power. I wonder…if we got them…you know…together, though, I'd really prefer possibly restoring Voldemort back to his former glory before doing so, but d'you think they'd be happy?" Neville pondered over that for a few moments, before nodding. Ginny sighed happily, snuggling back into her chair, before continuing on.

"**Yes," said Dumbledore. "He'll have that scar forever."**

"**Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**

"**Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground."**

Even Voldemort shuddered at that.

"**Well - give him here, Hagrid - we'd better get this over with."**

**Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house.**

Harry sighed, "Thus damning the rest of my childhood." He murmured, almost inaudible to everyone, except for Voldemort, Lucius and Severus. Voldemort had asked the room mentally if there was a way only certain people could hear what Harry would say, even if only meant for himself. The fact that they could hear him made him think that there was. He leaned over to Severus, murmuring that in his ear, who nodded and did the same for Lucius.

"**Could I — could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog.**

Harry turned to Sirius, grinning slyly, who just chuckled and murmured, "Piss off, wanker." Harry chuckled softly, but decided not to reply.

"**Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**

"Wait…she said nothing about the motorcycle, but freaks out about the crying?" asked Draco. Ginny shrugged, "No one ever said she was entirely sensible."

"**S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**

Harry blinked slowly, staring at the book as if it were going to eat him. "Hagrid scares me more then Dementors sometimes. Just sometimes, but it's enough." Ginny giggles and nodded, "He scares me all of the time and it has nothing to do with that he's a half-giant."

"**Yes, yes, its all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found," Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. **

Narcissa gasped, "He left you…on a doorstep…on the night when pretty much every deatheater was hell bent on revenge…AND it was -9 degrees outside that night. When did your aunt and uncle find you?" Harry blushed and murmured, "The next morning, ma'am." Narcissa sighed, rubbing her delicate hand against her forehead. "When I get my hands on that man, he's going to wish it was my husband and not me." She growled lowly. Ginny cleared her throat, "Madam Malfoy, I'd suggest not getting too angry just yet. We haven't even gotten to Harry's childhood." Harry groaned and hit his head against his knees. "Way to lift my spirits, there." Ginny just shrugged and continued to read.

**For a full minute the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out.**

Harry gaped at Voldemort. "You…you did what I've been trying to do since I first saw that twinkle. Maybe I should find a prophecy child to kill." He tapped his chin in mock thought. Ginny giggled. "That was a horrid joke, my dear brother." Harry merely stuck his tongue out at her, which she promptly leaned over and bit hard enough to make it bleed. "Don't stick your tongue out unless you're going to do fun things with it, Kor." Harry just cursed her under his breath, causing two of the men who were listening in to blush slightly. Draco was staring between Harry and Ginny like he wasn't quite sure what to do anymore. To think he had ruined his chance at having these people for friends…well, he would surely try to rectify that and soon.

"**Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We've no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**

Narcissa huffed, but didn't comment.

"**Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'd best get this bike away. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir."**

**Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night.**

"**I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply.**

**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four.**

"**Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**

The twins toned in, "You're going to need it."

**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles," **

"What a lovely way to wake up." Neville said, his eyebrows in his hairline. Harry grinned, but shrugged. "You get used to it."

"**nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley…He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**

"TO THE BOY WHO DIDN'T DIE!" Cried Ginny, tossing the book into the air happily. "That was the end of chapter one. Neville is up next." Neville just rolled his eyes and went to go pick up the book. Voldemort peered on in curiosity. "You know, none of you seem very surprised by all of this." Harry tilted his head, "These people here," He motioned to the Gryffindor children, "are my closest friends. I've told them things no one else knows. Now, because of these books, though, I'm sure you will as well."

Neville cleared his throat after sitting back down. "The second chapter is…"

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

This section under the story is if I get complaints that I'm just copying the book and adding small comments in between paragraphs.

Number of words copied from the book word for word/Number of words in the chapter

4,615/14,368 words


	2. BOOKS OF TRUTH CHAPTER TWO

From this point on, my story is going to be going off on its own tangent. I'm leaving some of the book intact, but for the most part, I'm thinking I'm probably going to be demolishing it and putting it back together with my own spin on things.

Chapter 2

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

"…**The Vanishing Glass**"

Harry groaned loudly. "Oh bugger!" Fred and George sat up, looking at the book excitedly. "OH! I never thought we would get to hear about this in detail!" "This is going to be awesome!" The twins said at the same time. Ginny stared at them. "Wow. You've got them so excited that they're not even saying the same thing. Never seen that before." Harry snorted and raised his hand, "I can proudly say I've seen it happen more then once." He said, smirking at his red headed sister, who just gaped in reply. Neville laughed loudly and said, "It's not like our family isn't known for incest, dear sister." Ginny nodded slowly, "I know, it's just…" She sighed and leaned back, "I don't even know why I'm surprised." Neville shook his head and began reading. All of the Gryffindor children were evading the questioning or surprised looks as the chapter began.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens, though many were ritually ripped apart,**

Harry grinned at that, remembering the look on Mrs. Petterson's face.

Sirius looked over at him and chuckled softly. "I assume that was your doing, then?" Harry nodded and shrugged. "The normalcy of that neighborhood drove me insane. I liked prettying it up every now and again." Tonks sent Harry a feral grin, which in turn made his stretch that much wider.

**and lit up the slightly scuffed brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece and the change in the furniture really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets - but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby,**

Neville paused in his reading, unable to go on for laughing too hard. "Merlin, I forgot just how amusing some of your descriptions, especially that of people, can be. I am almost scared to know what mine is." Harry snorted and answered, "Probably something to do with Trevor. You were missing him on the day we met." Neville nodded, remembering his toad. Draco spoke up, curious, "Say, just what happened to that toad?" Neville looked over at the other boy and stated cryptically, "Oh, I'm sure you'll find out soon enough."

**and now the photographs showed a large**

"Large? Did that just say large? Are you serious?" Ginny giggled. Harry snorted and Sirius grinned, "Well, you said it a bit wrong, but yes, yes I am." Ginny rolled her eyes and flipped him off, sending the man into hysterics. "Anyway…that boy should not be described as large."

"No, he shouldn't…" Fred began.

"If anything, it should be…"

"Heavy."

"Huge"

"Obese"

Harry piped up, "A whale."

The room was silent for a moment, before the Gryffindors all cracked up, Tonks laughing so hard that she had to clutch her arm rests to keep from falling out of her chair. Even Remus, who had always been rather adamant at treating others nicely couldn't contain his chuckling.

**blond boy riding his first bicycle,**

"Which now sits in the garage, broken."

**on a carousel at the fair,**

"Which he got kicked out of for trying to stick his arm into the cotton candy machine."

**playing a computer game with his father,**

"Which he threw at a wall when he couldn't beat it."

**being hugged and kissed by his mother.**

"Which is a repulsive sight." Harry finished, sighing.

**The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

"Where were you?" Came the question from Narcissa. "Well, that day was the 23rd of June. They always forced me and Dudley's schools to send us home for that day." He tapped his chin in thought. "Wait, when you say schools are you saying that you and him went to separate schools?" Asked Narcissa. Harry nodded, "It's for a reason, but if you don't find out in the book, then you aren't going to find out from me…at least not yet." He said decisively, eyeing her.

**Yet Harry Potter was still there, reading one of the books that he had "borrowed" from his school library at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake as well and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

"**Up! Get up! Now!"**

Harry cringed in remembrance, "You know, she really is a timely alarm clock. Too bad I was usually awake before she was."

**Harry barely jumped when his aunt rapped on the door, screeching at him. His aunt rapped on the door again, making him growl softly, but he stowed his book away under his bed nonetheless.**

Harry pouted, "It had been a really good book, too." Ginny closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, while Neville asked what book it was, "Chemistry textbook." Draco's eyebrows shot up into his hairline as he asked, "What is Chemistry?" Harry looked over at the Pureblood wizard warily. "Ehh…do you know what science is?" Draco shook his head. "Harry, you should just explain it, we want to know, too."

Harry sighed in defeat. "Okay, science is a muggle practice which studies the laws of nature." Harry held up his hand when Lucius tried to interrupt. "If you've ever been without a wand, you'll have noticed there were things you couldn't do that you could normally do with a want, right?" There were nods throughout the room. "That's because magic breaks the laws of nature, or at least muggle nature. In the muggle world, things that take seconds here, could take years, like raising plants. I've seen carrots grow to their full size in a day because of magic, while in the muggle world, it takes a good half year, at least. Anyway, there are three basic branches of science. They are Earth and Space science. Basically…what how can we use the earth and space to our advantage."

Seeing that he had the attention of all the people in the room, continued on, "While we merely look at stars for their meanings, muggles have figured out ways to fly up past where humans in general can normally fly. They've gone to the moon, collected rocks from it's surface…" He watched as the wizards who nothing of the muggle world slowly became more and more shocked. "As for the Earth, they've been can track the weather down to the second, without the use of magic, though, as with any reading of the future, it is not concrete. But that is basic. They've studied so much more then that. But, I'm not going to go into that right now.

The second branch of the three main branches is Physical Science, which studies a physical object's mass and energy, namely the weight, volume and mass. Chemistry falls under this category and is much like potions for the wizarding world, I would guess. It's much too complex to go into detail at the moment, but I'm sure if you asked later, I'd explain better."

"The last and most interesting part to me is Life Sciences. That is the study of anything and everything that is alive. My favorite subject, being a wizard, is genetics. I'd really like to find the gene that triggers magic. Genes are what help us exist, basically. They are the coding of all that is living, I believe that magic is nothing more then a genetic mutation." When Harry had finished, he saw Severus gaping at him, he quirked his brow, "What? Just because I don't do well in classes doesn't mean I'm not smart. Or I should say, just because I don't do well in _your _classes, because you've seen me as my father instead of seeing me as me or at least my mother, doesn't mean I'm not smart. It's not everyday an eleven year old has his hopes crushed before the lesson has truly even began." He stated dryly, knowing Severus would know exactly what he was talking about. The man had the decency to look ashamed, which almost surprised Harry, even after the man's breakdown just an hour or so earlier.

"Anyway, I think magic is genetic. Meaning that, if there are Muggleborns out there, they would have come from a long line of Squibs. Actually, I know my mother did, but I'm not going to go into _that_, unless the book does." He said, smirking, knowing that the book would, but wanting to see these people wonder over it. "Which means, you aren't going to find out unless we get back to reading the book, so…" He motioned to Neville, who lifted the book back up with an amused expression on his face, knowing the information was worth the wait.

"**Up!" she screeched again, causing Harry to wince. "Christ, woman." Harry murmured, rubbing his ears as he heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having before he had woken up to read, trying to buy some time. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle and a giant man in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"You remember that?" Came the question from Lucius. Harry nodded, saying, "It's not the only thing I remember from that night." The color drained from the Slytherins' faces as the implications of that sentence sunk in for them. Harry looked mildly amused, "You would've thought that that would have sunk in during the last chapter, when I asked about my mum." He said, giggling. "But how do you remember?" Harry just shrugged at Severus' question, a look on his face saying he knew, but wasn't going to say anything. Neville just chuckled and continued to read.

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"**Nearly," said Harry.**

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

"How often did you cook for them?" Severus asked. Harry bit his lip in thought, "Every time I wasn't at school, since I could reach over the stove with the help of a step stool. Which they decided was on my fourth birthday. Lovely birthday present that, but better then most I got from them." He said, giggling slightly.

**Harry groaned, "Fuck me."**

Neville snorted. "You know, I've been your friend since we were eleven and seeing you putting on the Golden Boy mask most the time, I'm still slightly surprised by what comes out of your mouth." Harry giggled softly. "But not by what goes in." He responded crudely, grinning widely. Neville just smirked and shook his head.

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"**Nothing, nothing…"**

**Dudley's birthday - how could he have forgotten? It **_**was **_**the only reason he was here and not at home. **

"You considered your school as your home?" Narcissa asked, startled. Harry nodded slowly, "The Dursleys' house has never been a home to me, ma'am. It was a prison to me, more so then my school, which was technically an actual prison." He murmured, then added, "No, I'm still not explaining that. Not unless the book goes into it. Not because I'm ashamed of it, but…well…you'll find out when you get to it."

**Harry got slowly out of bed, wincing as the 'welcome home present' his uncle had given him the day before twinged slightly**

Neville paused for a few moments, looking around at the adults, four of whom seemed to just be shocked into silence, the others oblivious to the implications of that sentence. "Oh come on! Really? I mean, that was the most obvious…" There was suddenly a startled gasp from Narcissa, who stood up and bustled over to Harry, picking him up and perching him on her lap, holding him tightly, even though he was stiff as a board in her arms, she merely petted his hair and murmured nonsensical things into his ear until he started to visibly relax. As soon as he was relaxed enough, she told her husband, "As soon as this is over, we're going to file for the legal adoption of this child. Do you hear me Lucius? I don't care what it takes, I'm not going to rest until Harry here is out of those monsters' hands!" She said fiercely, still running his fingers through his hair, ignoring his weak protests.

"Harry, child, you have to understand, in the wizarding world, all child abuse is greatly frowned upon. Like with you and the Dark Lord, while the death eaters did nothing about it," She paused, glaring at her lord and her husband in turn, who both looked rather ashamed of themselves, giving her hope that not all was lost just yet, "when Lucius came home from that meeting, he ended up being violently ill. No child that has magic, especially magic as powerful as yours should be harmed in such a manner. You are the only child to have been placed under the Cruciatus curse by the hand of the Dark Lord and…" she whispered the next bit only loud enough for him to hear, "…if you were to see his face right now, you could tell he is beating himself up about it." Harry giggled softly, burying his face into the woman's shoulder as tears pooled in his eyes.

"There was a mandatory rule that all children were to be killed with the use of the killing curse. If any death eaters were caught torturing a child, he would receive what he had given tenfold before being put to death. Magical children are just too important to the wizarding world." Harry nodded solemnly, then turned to Fred, "I guess that means that Dean lost his bet." There was a moments pause before the twins snorted and George said, "Only you would think of something like that at a time like this." Harry merely sent a small smile over to them, before burying his face back into Narcissa's shoulder, feeling that she wasn't doing this for her own agenda.

…yet.

**and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, murmuring a soft apology to the spider for waking it, he pulled them on.**

"Wait, can you actually talk to spiders? I swear, more then once in our second year, I saw you conversing with a spider, but I just thought you had gone batty, what with the whole Heir of Slytherin thing. Sorry for that by the way." Draco murmured, scratching his head in an unMalfoy gesture of discomfort. Harry just shrugged and gave a noncommittal gesture from his new perch.

**Harry was used to spiders, for more then one reason. For the longest time, he had figured everyone could talk to spiders, until he saw his aunt squish one that was trying to explain itself. They were his best friends, his only friends, reminding him much of himself, skittering around in the shadows, seeking the darkness for comfort and protection. All others either feared or hated him, but that was neither here nor there. Mostly he was used to the spiders because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them and that was where he slept.**

He felt Narcissa's arms tighten around his waist as she breathed deeply, hoping to maintain control of her emotions. She was a lady after all. The adult men of the room had no such qualms, they all growled and snarled at the Dursleys, Severus beating himself up for blindly believing…oh…OH He was going to kill that old man. He paused in his nonsensical ranting, sitting back down and began plotting. No, that old fool wasn't going to get away with what he had done.

It took a good thirty minutes before everyone was calmed down, Draco, who had kept sitting in his chair, was still puffing to himself about muggles and how disgusting they were. Neville cleared his throat, pulling everyone's attention back to him, where he continued to read.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was almost as much of a fatass as Vernon and hated exercise - unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, **

A low growl came from Remus, his now completely Amber eyes flashing. Harry disentangled himself from Narcissa and slinked slowly over to the irate werewolf, crawling into his lap. "Mooonnyyyy…" he crooned, running his fingers through the other man's hair, petting him. "I'm right here. All in one piece, you see?" He murmured, taking Remus' hand and placing it against his chest. "You know you're in a very long line to get them, the front of the line being me." He relaxed slightly when Remus nodded, the Amber starting to bleed out of his eyes as a feral grin spread across his face, almost completely replicated by Harry.

"Moony gets their hearts. I honor a wolf's promise that Moony gets the hearts that pump blood through their bodies." Harry murmured into the wolf's ear, making it growl in contentment. He smiled lovingly, then stood, telling Remus, "When you and Moony become one, he will be less difficult to control. The only reason why your transformations hurt so much is because you and Moony are constantly fighting for dominance, instead of being one. Dumbledore doesn't speak the truth about werewolves. They are not dangerous unless they not one. The only other way, you've seen before, the werewolf in the dark ranks is a feral werewolf. He was born as a wolf, he was captured and withheld the blood all born werewolves need to stay sane. Even if he were to get said blood, he would still be incapable of controlling his wolf. As you can tell from his outwardly appearance, the wolf is taking him over, bit by bit. Soon, there will be no man left, only wolf."

As he finished this thought, he climbed back into his chair and onto Narcissa's lap, causing her to squeal in delight, as she hadn't been sure if he would be so open to do so. Neville smiled brightly at Narcissa, knowing she had passed Harry's test for now, he turned back to the book.

**but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

"Thank Merlin for that!" Severus murmured, causing Luna, who was sitting next to him to turn and smile at him. She sighed as she felt Fate's happiness seep into her. Yes, this had been a farfetched plan, but it seemed to be working…

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard or maybe it was going to a school for incurably criminal boys, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. **

"Wait, Mr. Potter. Don't tell me you went to St. Brutus's…" Severus half questioned, slightly aghast. Harry shrugged, sending a lopsided grin to his professor. "Okay, I won't tell you then." Causing even the dark lord to cough in amusement. Severus rolled his eyes in exasperation. "How did you not get into Slytherin, Mr. Potter?" Harry shrugged once more, saying, "You'll most likely find out soon enough." Severus nodded, but still asked, "What did you do to get into a school such as that?" Narcissa, mildly confused, wondered out loud, "What is so bad about a muggle school?"

Severus sighed, running his hand through his hair, which he might add, was not greasy…, "St. Brutus's is only a school because they offer classes, though most of the…_children_…that…_attend_…that school generally decide not to go, valuing the worth of skills such as stealing and how best to kill someone without leaving a trace behind them over things such as reading, writing and maths." Harry giggled a soft, humorless giggle, adding, "Then there were those, like me, that attempted to learn everything they could whilst inside those walls." Severus worried his lip for a moment before asking his next question.

"Just what did you do to get into such…_school_?" The word school seemed to struggle out of his lips, as if he didn't quite want to say it. Harry just waved him off. Neville, who had been reading ahead during their interruptions, said, "You'll find out within this chapter, so if I could…" he left the sentence hanging with a quirked brow. Severus made an overdramatic hand movement to continue on, causing Neville to giggle into the book. Harry peered over at him and flicked his eyes between the two. He looked over at Ginny, who was also watching the display. Their eyes connected and Ginny nodded her head minutely before settling back in.

**He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of the older children at his school, not to mention Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. **

"Before anyone says anything, I know that Dumbledore paid them to take care of me…because he paid them out of my old account, but he didn't pay them to take care of me in the loving, caring sense. He paid them to abuse me, they said so themselves…after a little persuasion, of course." He finished with a giggle, causing all of the people, minus the Gryffindor children, who caught on to that (namely, everyone but Draco) to stare at Harry as if he had grown a new head. Tonks, who had been decidedly quiet throughout this entire thing suddenly giggled, her eyes flashing to a violent red color. "D'you think we could get any other information out of them, Harry?"

Harry nodded, smirking. "If you put them in a room with no food, water or electronics, it only takes a couple hours for them to squeal like the pigs they are." Narcissa petted Harry's hair, peering over at Lucius who was staring at this boy like he did the first time Draco had mastered the Cruciatus Curse. Oh, this boy was going to be in their family faster then he could even thing to adjust, she and her husband would make sure of that.

**Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. **

Severus peered over at Harry, taking in his looks for the first real time, catching the boy's attention. Harry shook his head and then peered over at Neville. "When are they coming up?" He asked, knowing Neville would know exactly what he was talking about.

"This paragraph." Was all Neville said before continuing on.

**Though, most of the time, people didn't see much beyond that. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley, Vernon and the boys back at his school had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. It was the only thing that never got covered by his friend. He had found his friend one night after a particularly nasty punishment, **

Besides a few low growls and an indignant humming from Narcissa, everyone stayed silent for the moment, wanting to know just what the two boys were going on about.

**diving inside of his mind to escape the pain, he had seen something thrashing violently against a thick wall. Part of the wall seemed to be there naturally, he figured at his tiny hands had run across it, watching as the black mass seemed to hum in contentment wherever he touched.**

"Wait. Black? The color of your magic is black?" Voldemort asked, too stunned to stay quiet. Harry nodded and shifted to look at Voldemort. "Do you know what it means? The black core, I mean. I've searched everywhere except Knockturn Ally, as it is rather difficult to go there unless by accident, but couldn't find hide nor hair of what it means." Harry said, with a slight hint of frustration streaking his voice.

Voldemort snickered, "That would be my doing, actually. When I found out what it meant, I burnt every book in the library that contained it or, if it was inaccessible at the time, took it with me, as so no one could get his or her hands on it. Having a black magical core means that your magic is fit for anything, you should be able to excel in anything you put your mind to. From what I have heard about you, and yes I have been keeping tabs on you…you are par with most of your classes, at best, though I understand Severus here treats you unfairly, but that will be seen to, right, Severus?" The man nodded quickly, swallowing hard.

On the inside, since his lord, yes definitely his lord, had told them that he had _tried _to spare Lily, who had been his best friend, one of his few friends, as well as Harry basically pledging his allegiance to the Dark Lord, he felt as if he were truly free from a very meddlesome man's clutches for the first time in fourteen very long years. He was a dark wizard, blast it, and all of this light magic was making his skin itch.

He would follow his lord now, until the day that he died.

Turning back to the conversation, he stayed silent for the moment, soaking in all of the information coming from his lord. "Obviously, a black magical core means that you lean more toward dark magic, though light magic isn't as hard for you to control as many dark wizards, such as Lucius and Severus." Both wizards in question twitched at the thought of using light magic. Depending on the strength of the spell, light magic was bloody painful for them, if they were to be totally honest with themselves. "Whilst most children, namely anyone under the legal age, would be considered to have neutral or 'grey' magic, no matter the color of their magic. Now it is typically said that the darker the color of the magical core, the darker the magic capable of the witch or wizard, you see?"

At receiving the nods, he continued, "Dark creatures, such as your werewolf," he pointed to Remus, "will have inherently dark magic, unless they refuse their wolf, then there is a constant clashing of light and dark magic, never being neutral and yes, in the end, that clashing will indeed consume you, Mr. Lupin, unless of course you accept your wolf for who he is. Which by the way, your wolf, Moony as he is called, is actually relatively docile, just rather upset that he can't coexist with you." Remus gaped at the man, then turned to Harry for confirmation. When Harry nodded, he slumped in his chair.

"Now, we will talk more about merging your wolf with yourself after this chapter is complete, yes? I believe I have covered everything on black magical cores that I can remember at the moment, so I believe we should continue with the story." Neville nodded slowly. He was beginning to understand why so many people joined this man, though he was having a hard time deciding if he was to do so as well. The man had inadvertently robbed him of his parents. Pushing his struggles aside for the moment, he continued on with the story.

**He felt the other half of this wall, this disgusting wall containing this wonderful being inside of him, was not natural. It felt as if he were running his hand through slime. Shuddering in revulsion, he was now determined to rid his new friend of this wall. His friend trembled in excitement as Harry came to this conclusion.**

"That would mean someone blocked your magic?" Harry nodded at Tonks's question, adding, "That someone being Dumbledore." There was a murmur of discontent throughout the room at this statement, many of the people promising that man's death.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Miles away, at Hogwarts, Dumbledore paused in his frantic quest to find his pawn, to shudder lightly as the cold chill of death ran down his spine. Shrugging it off as a draft, he continued on, never noticing lady Hogwarts giggling in contentment. Soon, she sighed to herself, soon her walls would have a worthy headmaster.

x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

**He spent most of the night breaking down the walls around this being, feeling it to be masculine in nature.**

Neville paused in his reading, "So that's why you always call your magic, 'he'. I thought it was just one of those things that you did." He smirked over at the boy, who now looked disgruntled and slightly embarrassed. "You make it sound like I'm crazy." Neville merely sent the boy a look that told him that he wasn't going to give that sentence enough respect to verbally respond and went back to reading.

**He felt a deep connection with him, though he couldn't put his finger on it. Soon, after many hours he had made deep cracks in the wall, breaking it down enough for his friend to seep out of it, causing it to shatter completely. With tremendous force the wall was gone, leaving nothing but the now happily thrumming magic that was seeping into the boy's veins. He drew out of his mind, watching the black mist crawl down his body, fixing major injuries, though it wasn't enough to stop scarring, it helped his pain. The last thing he remembered was pulling up his shirt and sighing happily as his new friend covered his most hated scar.**

Neville had to pause and take a deep, slightly shaking breath before reading the next sentence, causing everyone, minus Harry, who just buried his face deeper into Narcissa's shoulder, to sit up on the edge of their seats.

**It had been deeply imbedded into his skin, hard lines, spelling out the word 'FREAK' stretched across his stomach for everyone to see and as a reminder of what he was.**

There was a complete silence that echoed through the room, causing Harry to shiver, which in turn caused Narcissa to break out of her stupor. She murmured soft comforts into his ear, running one hand through his hair and the other rubbing his back intermittently, stopping only long enough to growl at those horrid muggles. Harry giggled at the woman's antics, but the sound was slightly hollow to everyone in the room.

Voldemort stood, clearing his throat to catch Harry's attention. "This glamour of yours, it is wandless magic, correct?" Harry nodded slowly. "Then you could take it down now, yes?" Harry nodded again, worrying his bottom lip. He really didn't want to have to take his glamour down, though his friend, his magic, was thrumming excitedly at the prospect of not having to deal with this anymore. It drained him greatly.

"If you let the glamour down, Severus could possibly get rid of some of the scars on your body." The boy worried his lip that much more, nearly breaking this skin. Narcissa put her hands on his face and made him look directly into her eyes, if the boy was strong enough, he could read her thoughts enough to prove what she was saying was the truth. "If anyone, anyone at all, even my own son and husband, especially my son and husband, says anything untoward to you about something you couldn't control, I will deal with them myself, you understand me, Harry?" She hadn't known him for very long, but she had never held a deep-seated resentment toward the boy as her husband and son had.

The boy seemed to calm slightly at the woman's word. He looked up to the woman, showing just how scared he was with his eyes. He had never once thought he would have to take his glamours down again. Narcissa smiled sadly and took his hand, lifting him up and placing him on her hip, shocked to the core by just how small he was. This boy wasn't even slightly awkward to carry this way and she hadn't been able to do such a thing with Draco since he had been twelve years old!

Seeing the looks on all of the other adults' faces, she knew they were thinking much of the same thing. Looking to her cousin, whom she had not spoken to in years. Their eyes locked as she gently set Harry down in the center of the chairs, on the table where the books had been only moments before. A silent promise traveled between them and years of awkward avoidance was forgotten for the boy that had claimed both of their hearts quickly. Stepping back, she let the Dark Lord and Severus walk up to the boy.

He numbly took off his vest and school shirt, wrapping his arms around his middle instinctively, he trembled as he and his magic slowly slid the glamours off. He sighed as he heard the gasps from around the room. Honestly, it wasn't _that _bad.

Voldemort and Severus spent the next thirty minutes bouncing ideas off of each other, making a list of potions and spells they would need, Harry putting his own input in every now and again, after he had gotten over the mortification of being half naked in front of Lord Voldemort himself. Soon they had made a full list of potions that the boy would need, spanning from nutrition and growth potions to spell and curse revealing potions.

Harry quickly jumped down from the table and scrambled to put his school shirt back on, sansing the vest and tie. He peered over at Draco's tie, then over to Ginny, who was also eyeing it. He walked over to her and murmured something in her ear, making her eyes light up, she replied, just as softly, "Five gallons says you can't." Harry just grinned and went to sit back down, Narcissa sitting with Severus, going over the list of potions.

He looked over to Draco, who seemed to be unsure of what to do with himself and was staring resolutely down at his hands, which were firmly in his lap. Harry's lips curled into a smirk for a moment, before he wiped his face of emotion. "Hey Malfoy." He called out, reclining in his chair. The blonde boy's head shot up, his eyes settling on Harry, namely his chest before he flushed (much to the amusement of Ginny) and flicked his eyes back down to his hands. "Yes, Potter?" Came the slightly higher pitched then normal reply. Restraining himself from giggling, Harry continued on, "You know, I really don't blame you for everything you've done to me and my friends." That caught the boy's attention, whose eyebrows shot into his hairline, he peeked up through his blonde fringe. "You don't?" Harry shook his head with a kind smile. Draco worried his lip, looking over at his father, who nodded.

"I…am still sorry. If there is anything I can do to make up for the things I've said and done?" Harry nodded, standing up and sauntering over to the boy. He leaned over, taking delight when the boy flushed even more so. Harry whispered into the other boy's ear, causing him to look at him strangely. "It's a start." Harry said in a louder voice, pulling back to stand straight. Draco stared at him for a moment, before nodding and pulling his tie out of his shirt and off over his head. He handed it to Harry, who gave a wide smirk in return, placing it around his own neck and fixing his shirt, he walked back over to Ginny, who was looking rather put off.

She dug into her pocket and pulled out five galleons, placing them in the boy's hand, much to the bemusement of the other people in the room. He saw all of the stares he was getting and shrugged, toying with his new tie. "I bet Ginny that I could get a Slytherin tie in five minutes for five galleons." He grinned and looked over to Draco who stared at the two pseudo Gryffindors, completely dumbfounded. Lucius, who had watched the entire exchange with thinly veiled amusement, chuckled behind his hand.

"My son, you just fell for the most Gryffindor Slytherin tactic I have ever seen." He said, patting his now pouting son on the back. Harry winked over at Draco, and walked over to him again. "Seriously, though. I don't blame you. You were caught in the crossfire of a political power game, but you'll find out about that soon enough. Worry not." He murmured, patting the other boy on the head. "I'd like for us to come out of this as friends, though." Draco merely nodded, not trusting his voice.

"Alright." Harry said, rubbing his hands together. Shall we continue with the story? I dare say most of us would like to finish this all soon." They all nodded. "And we can't do anything about the potions just yet, so that will also have to wait, yes?" Severus, Narcissa and Voldemort nodded reluctantly, Severus taking the list and pocketing it.

"Wait, I have one last question, before we continue." Came from Ginny. "I'm just wondering, since you can heal yourself magically, why didn't you heal yourself before going to sleep the night before on this day in the book?" Harry scratched the back of his head. "Well, me and my relatives had a sort of agreement. If I didn't heal any wounds they gave me on Dudley's birthday, they wouldn't harm me at any time during the summer." He finished with a shrug.

Ginny nodded and turned to Neville, who cleared his throat and brought the book back up again, crossing his legs in his seat.

**From that day forward, Harry had used his new friend to heal himself and cover anything that would show through. His relatives were so excited about being able to harm more places of him without fear of repercussion that they didn't even punish him for the obviously freaky thing he was doing.**

"Well. Thank Merlin for that, though I don't see how that is freaky…" Draco murmured more to himself then anyone else, though his father and George heard and nodded solemnly.

**Still the only thing he couldn't heal or hide was the scar on his forehead. He had had it as long as he could remember being at his relatives house, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

"**In the car crash when your parents died," **

"What? They said that they had died in a car crash? That's preposterous!" Narcissa screeched, forgetting being dignified for the moment. "Never in all my years…Lucius…" she whined, stomping her foot, much to the amusement of the other people in the room. Lucius just nodded and said, "We shall plan this out after the reading, I dare say." Calming Narcissa down enough that she sat gracefully back in her chair. No one had the courage to say a word about her lapse.

**she had said. "And don't ask questions."**

_**Don't ask questions **_**- that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys. There were many rules that Harry had to follow while living under the Dursleys' roof, but that rule had to be the most important one of them all. After the first initial warning that had come when he was three, he would receive a smack as an answer to any question he asked. Soon, he had stopped asking for anything at all.**

Severus made a noise of dawning understanding. "So that is why you are so bloody curious about everything while at school. I had always wondered about that." Harry nodded slowly. "Which makes all of your adventures make that much more sense." Harry grinned and nodded. "And here I thought you had a saving people thing." Ginny snorted in amusement. "Just wait until the second book." She said, shaking her head. Harry added, "Or the end of this book."

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"You know, I've never heard him say more then five words in a sentence. Well, except that time with Hagrid, but I think he was so scared that the stupid ran away from him." Harry mused, the twins nodding in agreement.

**About once a week, when Harry wasn't in school, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class, every summer, put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way - all over the place.**

Severus shook his head, "That would be the Potter genes. Lily always thought that Potter used some spell to make his hair grow the exact way he wanted it to everyday, but everyone else knew that that was just how Potter hair grew." Harry giggled, smiling softly. He loved getting information on his parents, the good and the bad.

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. **

There were noises of hilarity from everyone in the room. Harry just smirked, wondering if his real description of Dudley was in there.

**Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel - Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

There was a moment of sheer silence in the room, then the twins broke it by laughing uproariously, clutching their stomachs. The rest of the room soon joined them, Tonks failing in her mission to stay in her chair, even Voldemort was cackling gleefully. "Oh, bloody hell, Kor. I love your descriptions." Neville shuddered and added, "I'm now extremely afraid of your description of me, but can't wait for your description of Dumb and Granger."

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. He ended up perching his precariously at the edge of the table. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

Harry let out a long sigh. "You know, they go through this every year, you would think that my relatives actually enjoyed this exchange."

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

Draco gaped at the book. "He's complaining about getting Thirty-six presents? I've never…" Narcissa cut him off, "And you never will, Draconis. Now hush." Draco's mouth shut with a snap, causing many of the Gryffindors to fight down their amusement.

"**Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mommy and Daddy."**

Severus sneered. "Mommy and Daddy? How old is this child?" Harry shook his head. "He's about a month older then I am." He replied dryly, his eyebrow quirked. Severus ran his hand over his face, "I am very glad that he is a muggle, Mr. Potter. Or at least a squib. Merlin forbid I ever have to meet him in a non-violent sense, as I'm sure it would turn violent very quickly."

"**All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

"So, that is why you eat the way you do?" Draco asked, before his eyes widened slightly and his mouth snapped shut again, his face flushed with embarrassment as his parents chuckled. "Draco was raised on stories about you, you see?" Narcissa continued on, ignoring her son who was staring pleadingly at her, shaking his head furiously. "When he was seven, he forced the elves," there was a piteous groan from Draco who covered his now cherry red face with one of his arms, "to hold a mock wedding for you and him." She finished in amusement. Harry shook in silent laughter, as Lucius buried his face into his wife's shoulder his shoulders shaking in mirth. Fred and George ran over to Draco and hugged him tight, "That" "is" "so" "CUTE." They said, the last word in unison as they cuddled the blonde whose face was so red, you could almost see the steam coming from it.

They curled around him, latching on tightly, even through the blonde's weak protests. Soon, he was quiet and the twins smirked to each other over his head. His mother and father stared at the scene, thankful that their son could no longer deny that part of himself. They really didn't care whom he ended up with, as long as he was happy and, of course, gave the Malfoy line an heir. In the wizarding world, men could reproduce just as…well many not just as easily as women, but it was still common practice in most wizarding societies. Narcissa smiled contently and curled against her husband on a now expanded chair. She was starting to wish they never had to leave this room.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another **_**two**_** presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? **_**Two**_** more presents. Is that all right?" She ended almost frantically, amusing Harry to no end, though he didn't show it on his face.**

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty…thirty…" Harry rolled his eyes minutely, honestly, he kept forgetting just how stupid Dudley was.**

"Harry, how could you forget that? It slaps you in the face every time he speaks to you." Harry just shrugged, saying, "No idea."

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"**Oh." Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

"**Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

There was a collective shudder of disgust that went throughout the room. "That is possibly the most disgusting display I have ever read in my life." Neville sneered down at the book, surprising Severus and Draco, both of whom had never seen that look on the boy before. Severus thought the boy to be almost…attractive when he didn't have that clueless look on his face. His brow furrowed as he backtracked. No, not attractive, calling someone attractive meant getting your hopes up and Severus knew better then to do that.

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR, Harry started taking mental inventory of everything that was unwrapped and picking out the items he knew Dudley wouldn't miss. **

Harry smirked, remembering that. "How much of what you own was stolen from the muggles, Harry?" Harry giggled and replied, "Oh…all of my muggle items." Ginny coughed and blinked at Harry. "That's like…Harry, that's over one thousand muggle pounds worth of stuff." Harry grinned and scratched his nose, "More like…ten thousand." Fred and George chuckled from their spots. "How much would that be in galleons?" Narcissa asked. Harry thought for a moment, then replied, "About two thousand galleons." He said with a nod. The Slytherins all stared at Harry for a moment, who in return just quirked one of his eyebrows and peered over at Neville, signaling him to start reading again.

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.**

"She looked rather constipated, if you ask me." Harry said in thought.

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him." She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

"_Harry Potter _has a name, you stupid muggle." Came the sour reply from Voldemort, which caused Harry to stare at the man in wonder. He had never heard him say his first name in any other tone but disdain or sadistic glee. The way his name rolled off his tongue…he shivered in delight, but said nothing, not noticing that four other people in the room had seen that display.

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. **

Neville paused in his reading, "So, they made you travel all the way from your school to their house, which I assume, seeing as you are there until summer, is rather far away, only so you can cook and clean for that one day, then go back to the school the day after that?" Harry nodded, giggling softly. "They never made much sense." He said with a slight shrug.

**Harry hated it there, almost as much as he hated the Dursleys. **

"Which I now know she acted the way she acted on Dumbedore's orders." He said dryly.

**The whole house smelled of cabbage and cat piss and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned, many of the later ones ended up being kicked by him, on "accident".**

"Is that where you got the cat for…" Harry nodded, smirking. "Though, I think that might have been one of her kneazles." Neville chuckled, shaking his head.

"**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this, though that would've been rather difficult for him, seeing as he was ushered into the house and put under watch the entire time he had been at that stupid house. **

**Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, it really just amused him, it really wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbies, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

Harry shook his head, "You know, she named every new cat after whichever cat had died before? Honestly…I think she had a thing for cats in the way Filch does with Ms. Norris." He said, causing more then one person, including himself, to shudder.

No one could think of anything that could possibly make that thought less frightening, so Neville just continued reading.

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

Harry violently shuddered at the mention of his aunt Marge, something that didn't go unnoticed.

**The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there - or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug or a piece of dirt on their food.**

Harry scratched his chin, saying, "More often then not, I usually thought about them that way as well." He shrugged.

"**What about what's-her-name, your friend - Yvonne?"**

"**On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.**

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

Voldemort smirked and said, "How deceitful of you, Potter. And to think I was planning on killing you. What a waste that would've been." He said almost morosely. Harry sent him a small, shy smile, before turning back to Neville. Severus and Lucius looked at each other triumphantly. This definitely wouldn't be as hard as they thought.

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.**

Severus snorted, saying, "Rather astute observation there, Potter." Remembering the horse face woman, "Though, I don't know how you could tell the difference between that and her normal face." Harry snickered and shrugged.

"**And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled. Harry thought the idea had merit, but said, "I won't blow up the house," but they weren't listening.**

"They never listened."

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "…and leave him in the car…"**

Narcissa growled and said, "That is completely unethical! Inhumane! Barbaric! And…" Harry cleared his throat. "Ma'am, if we could continue the story, they don't leave me in the car." Though disgruntled, Narcissa settled back against Lucius.

"**That cars new, he's not sitting in it alone…"**

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying - it had been years since he'd really cried - but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"Draco used to do that, until he was about five." Narcissa mused, staring over at her son. Draco flushed again, and replied, "Well, yes, enough zapping spells and silencios and I figured out that that wasn't going to work." His father looked rather smug with himself. "Frankly, I'm quite happy they made those spells." He said softly, ruffling his son's hair, who squawked indignantly. "Corporal punishment on a child is so…barbaric." He finished with his lip curled. Harry tilted his head, "So…if you were to adopt me, you wouldn't ever raise your hand to me?"

Narcissa made a noise of discontent, "Goodness no, child! Besides, you're old enough that we shouldn't need to punish you in any way, nor would we attempt to. All rules in our house are for the safety of other people, so if you happen to break said rule, well, you'll be punished enough without us having to harm you, though it's nothing that causes anything more then mild pain, if that." Harry nodded slowly, his body visibly relaxing. "I'd like to think about it, I know Sirius," he motioned to his godfather, "would love to adopt me, but…" he looked over to Sirius apologetically, "I think I need someone who is a bit more…stable to raise me." Sirius waved him off, giving him a lopsided smile.

"Pup, as long as my cousin lets me see you more then Dumbledore does, I'm fine with it. Also, it'd be great if I could actually leave my house. Being cooped up in the ancestral house seems to have knocked about as many screws out as Azkaban did." Narcissa nodded slowly, putting her hand on her husband's arm, "As long as you don't harm or upset Harry in any way, I'm sure it will be fine. Plus, the grounds of the Malfoy Manor are much larger then that of the Black house." Sirius grinned contently. Harry giggled, but added, "Still, this is a rather big decision and I'd like a bit more time to think about it, if that is okay?" Narcissa and Lucius nodded, smiling.

That he was even considering it after everything Lucius and Draco had done made them very happy indeed. From the twin sandwich, Draco said, "If it's any help, I'd actually really like having a brother." Harry smiled at him, nodding. He then turned back to Neville, who lifted the book back up with a smile and continued to read.

"**Dinky Duddydums,"**

Kind of. "WHAT?" Neville cried out, dropping the book. "She…she calls him…Dinky…" He dissolved into stitches, clutching his stomach, followed not too far behind by the rest of the room. "Oh merlin. When we go to their house…I'm not calling him anything but that." Harry chuckled, nodding slightly.

"**don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"Still not quite sure how she managed that." Harry murmured, causing the people in the room to snort.

"**I…don't…want…him…t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms, to which Harry sneered at.**

**Just then, the doorbell rang - "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically - and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. **

"Severus. Write down that boy's name." Voldemort murmured to Severus, who nodded, quickly jotting down the name.

**Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life, legally that is. **

"I still don't know how you managed to get that monkey." Harry just smirked at Fred. "Wait, you stole a monkey?" Draco asked, staring at the boy. Harry nodded, his smirk growing that much wider. After watch Draco impersonate a fish for a couple moments, Neville continued on.

**His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside roughly, bruising his arm.**

"**I'm warning you," he had snarled, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, making the boy flinch in disgust, "I'm warning you now, boy - any funny business, anything at all - and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas, no matter what your school says."**

**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, as innocently as possible, "honestly…"**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

**The problem was, strange things happened around Harry almost everyday and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen, because even he knew he did.**

Voldemort stared openly at Harry. "You did accidental magic everyday?" Harry shrugged and nodded, "Well, it wasn't accidental after I had unlocked my core, but yes, I did."

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald, 'accidentally' cutting his ear in the process, except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." **

"How awful!" Narcissa cried forlornly, grabbing at her own hair and staring at Harry's. Draco nodded quickly, disentangling his arms from the twin sandwich to feel his own hair, causing the twins to snicker.

**Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who, after spitting in Dudley's evening snack, spent a sleepless night imagining school the next year, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses, never mind that much of the clothing was stolen from them and that Harry's glasses were like that because of their doing.**

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off, much to his delight. He had been given a week in his cupboard, no meals, and a quick lashing for this, **

"So…not only did they hit you, they also withheld food from you?" Lucius all but growled. Harry nodded and shrugged, flushing, "I don't see how that is hard to imagine. I mean…" He motioned to himself, unable to finish the sentence. Everyone in the room nodded solemnly, Severus adding a nutrient potion that he had created himself to the list.

**even though he had tried to explain that he **_**couldn't**_** explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

"I really couldn't. I had asked my magic if he had done it, but he had told me he hadn't, so I had had no clue at all." Harry said, scratching his head. Everyone who remembered James nodded, knowing his hair was the exact same way.

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). **

Draco wrinkled his nose with a soft, 'ew' but refrained from commenting further.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fit a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. **

Remus looked at Harry and asked, "Just how old were you when that happened?" Harry thought back and said, "I had been six at the time." Nodding his head slowly. "Wha- You did a successful shrinking charm, holding it for long enough for a most likely huge sweater to shrink to the size of a person's hand…and is the sweater still that same size?" Harry nodded, standing up and walking over to his bag, pulling the shrunken sweater out and walking back. "She let me keep it, saying I shouldn't waste good clothing."

He smirked and handed the tiny sweater to Remus, who stared at it in amazement. "A shrinking charm lasting this long…that's…" He struggled to find a way to finish the sentence, Ginny came in and saved him, "That's Harry." She said decisively. Remus nodded, causing Harry to flush in pleasure, not entirely used to being praised.

**Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

Narcissa let out a small breath, "Thank Merlin." She said faintly.

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens during one summer vacation. Dudley's gang had been chased him into an ally, wielding small weapons, when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. **

Neville blinked at the book, then to Harry. "You apparated…" Harry looked over at Neville and said, "You know, I still haven't read about that." Ginny rubbed her forehead, "Of all the things you have read about, you haven't read about apparation?" Harry shook his head, "You know I'm only to the D's!" He said defensively. Ginny blinked slowly, before nodding. "Right, I forgot you were working from the Z's. Sorry, Kor." Harry just waved her off. "So, wait…you've read every book in the library…to the D's?" Draco asked, slightly aghast.

Harry nodded, grinning widely. "Any book I want to read, I just copy and take with me. Then, I take a copy of a textbook and spell the book I want to read into the textbook, or into a quidditch book. No one questions what I'm reading if I'm reading something pertaining to school or quidditch." Harry finished with a shrug. "Actually, I usually just copy any book I want. I haven't paid for a book in…well, since I learned the spell to copy books." Neville snorted, shaking his head. "You realize, no other person would've though of that, right?" Harry nodded again, "That's why I've never been caught. When a book is copied, the magic on it the original book that prevents stealing isn't on the copy, thus, you can walk out and no one is the wiser. Though, there are some stores that have pesky anti-copying spells on them, but they're easy enough to get around."

No one seemed to know what to say to that, so Lucius began explaining apparation to Harry, who stopped him when he got into the explanation of what it feels like. "So, it feels like something sucking you through a straw? Then…whatever I do, it's not apparation." Harry said, "What I do…it's like…" Harry worried his lip, thinking of the best way to explain it. "It's like…walking or just moving in general, but you move through the shadows." He tilted his head, considering that the best explanation he could think of at the time.

Voldemort made a choking noise. "You mean, you can shadow travel?" Harry looked at him strangely, but nodded, "I guess so." The older man shook his head. "The wonders of you, Mr. Potter, never cease to amaze me. The last person that was able to travel the way of shadows, thus controlling the element of shadows was Grindelwald himself." Voldemort looked at Harry in heavily veiled awe. Neville made a soft noise, catching the attention of everyone in the room and breaking the small staring match happening between Harry and the Dark Lord. He lifted the book in his hands with a quirked eyebrow, before beginning to read again, not caring in the slightest if the other people in the room were done talking yet. The story was about to get interesting!

**The Dursleys had received a very angry phone call from the headmistress, who had been there that day finalizing paperwork for the school, telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. **

**But all he'd tried to do (as he had shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard, clutching his chest) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

Neville paused, staring over at Harry. "Don't say a word." He growled in embarrassment, "I was eight at the time." Neville merely shook his head in amusement and continued to read.

**The worst thing he could remember doing, in terms of the punishment he had received, which had sentenced him to his school.**

Everyone in the room who didn't know the story, which was everyone but Harry, leaned forward, or in Neville's case, gripped the book tightly in excitement and apprehension.

**It had been a normal school day at his old, normal school. He had been playing on the playground by himself, as usually when Dudley had come up to him and kicked him, Harry assumed it was his way of getting Harry's attention.**

**Having had quite enough of the constant bullying, Harry had lashed out, the hatred coursing through his magic only fueling him as he ran toward a small game of baseball that was being held. He had stopped in front of the batter and yanked the bat out of the boy's hands roughly, his magic pushing the boy back at the same time, sending him flying back into a post, where he hit his head, falling to the ground in a heap.**

**Spinning toward Dudley, he marched toward the boy who had been waddling over to him, the bat clutched tightly in his hand. Dudley, who had been too far away when Harry had taken the bat from the other boy, didn't even turn his eyes to the object in question as he sneered. "Baby Potter thinks he can fight me, ay?"**

**Harry had snarled loudly, before running at the fat boy, gripping the bat tightly with both hands, he swung hard, his friend seeping into the bat, making it as hard as steel, he grinned when he heard Dudley's skull crack and laughed loudly when his blood had splashed across his face.**

Everyone who wasn't reading or Harry drew in a sharp breath, many wondering how a child could take delight from such a display of violence.

**By the time he had been pulled away by police, he had sent nine children and four teachers to the hospital, the boy who he had stolen the bat from dying from his injuries at the hospital.**

"You had killed someone before even entering Hogwarts?" Narcissa asked faintly. A shadow crossed Harry's eyes as he thought back to his trial. "More then one person, ma'am. Two other students and a teacher also died." He replied quietly, closing his eyes, not wanting to see their reactions. To say he was startled when a pair of arms wrapped around him, not the arms of a female, he noticed, was a bit of an understatement. He opened his eyes slowly and stared up into the face of an equally shocked looking dark lord. Voldemort pulled back quickly, clearing his throat awkwardly.

"No one is going to judge you negatively for this, not if I have any say in it, Potter." He murmured before turning and walking back to his chair, staring up at the ceiling. Harry blushed with a small smile, before peering around at all of the people in the room, whose faces showed a mix of awed and astonished. Sirius shook his head, "Well, I for one am glad that you're not anything like what Dumbledore had told me you turned out as. I was afraid you were going to be boring, but you're definitely anything but." Harry giggled when everyone else in the room nodded, he settled his eyes back on Voldemort, who was still staring adamantly at the ceiling, feeling a slight tingle where the man had touched.

His smile widened as he turned back to Neville, who didn't say a word about the exchange between the two, just starting where he had left off.

**The punishment wasn't all that bad, all things considered, he had spent most of his time sitting in a small jail cell, being leered at by some of the older inmates until they had found out just what he was in there for. He ended up not having to return to the Dursleys' until months later, after the trial had finished and he was to start attending St. Brutus's for an undetermined amount of time.**

**The Dursleys were too afraid of Harry when he had come back to punish him more then they usually did, though he did spend a good while in the cupboard. He spent a month at the Dursley's before starting at his new school, thus beginning his punishment mandated by the court.**

"And that is the tale of how I ended up attending St. Brutus's." Harry proclaimed, scratching his head. "Rather anti-climatic, if you ask me." There were nods and murmurs of agreement from the people in the group, Neville just snorted and said, "Anything would've been anti-climatic after that, Kor." And continued reading.

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. He was spending the day in a place where his relatives didn't want him to go, with his relatives and frankly, anything that ruins his relatives day, even minutely, was even worth being with Dudley and Piers as well as to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't his school, his relative's house, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things, in fact, it was his favorite pastime: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. **

"I have the feeling he doesn't like you, Kor." Said George. "Oh, what gave you that idea, Deimos?" Asked Fred. "No clue, Dolos, just a feeling." Harry snorted and shook his head as the two bantered back and forth over Draco, who looked like he really didn't mind at all.

**This morning, it was motorcycles.**

Sirius pouted and said, "There is nothing wrong with motorcycles, thank you very much!"

"… **roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

Fred and George stopped bantering to stare at Harry. "Really? Did you honestly say that to your uncle?" Harry smirked and nodded, "I liked his reaction."

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

Most of the people in the room snickered at the description, while George said, "Oh, you're right, his reaction was worth it." Fred nodded in agreement with his brother, both of them grinning widely, "Don't you agree, Draco?" The boy in question blushed a red that was worthy of the Weasleys, red spreading all the way to the tips of his ears as he nodded weakly.

"Stop torturing the boy." Neville admonished in entertainment, shaking his head as he turned back to the book.

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

Sirius snickered and said, "No it wasn't."

**But he wished he had gone into detail. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon - they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"Which would be a correct assumption." Harry said, grinning to his family, who grinned back, leaving those not in his family mildly confused.

"Wait, what is a cartoon?" Draco asked. Harry thought for a second before pulling a memory from his third year, "You remember when you sent me that note, back in third year?" Draco nodded, looking slightly chagrined. "Well, if you were to take that drawing, make it into a fifteen or so minute segment, and put it into a box, to play it to a mass of people, that would be a cartoon. Though, I may have to show you…" He said, peering over at Narcissa and Lucius who both nodded minutely, they were interested in this cartoon thing, no matter if it was muggle or not.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. **

Fred and George sniggered, knowing how Harry ate things like that. Draco tilted his head, asking, "What is an ice pop?" Harry mock gasped at the question, saying, "Why, it is only the best treat a person can have! Why, we should all have one right now!"

As if it had been planned, a plate with a ice pop appeared in front of everyone, perched on a table that had jumped out along with them. All of the Gryffindors picked theirs up and promptly put them in their mouths, sucking on them. The twins glanced over at Voldemort, who was watching Harry. The both grinned at each other over Draco's head and then picked up the blonde's ice pop and put it in front of the boy's face, who opened his mouth cautiously, taking the pop by the sticks, he licked it, his eyes widening in delight, he put it in his mouth and started to eat it contently. Neville stared around the room, sucking his own ice pop, and waited for everyone to start eating theirs.

He watched as his potions professor slowly picked his up and began to eat it, having to shift a bit in his seat…_Merlin_…he tore his eyes away from that to watch the older Malfoys finally gather enough courage to do the same, Narcissa's reaction much the same as Draco's had been. Finally, Voldemort, who had taken to intermittently poking his and staring at Harry, who seemed to be enjoying his ice pop a bit more then what was proper for civil society, took up his ice pop and licked it tentatively before doing much the same as the others in the room.

As soon as Neville saw that everyone in the room was at least attempting to eat their ice pop, he continued on with the book.

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

Neville heard Ginny choke on her ice pop as other in the room laughed or chuckled around the pop.

**Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little ways apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him and Vernon wouldn't 'accidently' knock him in the back of his head. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.**

"Merlin, he must be one fat child." Narcissa murmured in disgust. Harry replied wryly, "He is. About four or five times bigger then Crabbe and Goyle." Draco shuddered, pulling a face.

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

There was a collective groan from everyone in the room, minus Harry and the twins. Harry peeked over at Voldemort, wondering if he knew about this particular gift of his.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. **

Voldemort quirked an eyebrow, wondering. He and Harry's eyes connected before Harry's darted back to the book. Voldemort blinked at the boy, but didn't comment, knowing he would find out soon enough.

**It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls, Harry felt instantly at home in this place, feeling the want to curl up next to one of the snakes resting in this part of the zoo. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone.**

**Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trashcan - but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

"Reminds me a lot of Nagini." Harry giggled and smirked at Voldemort. "It is Nagini, isn't it?" Voldemort said, amusement tingeing his voice. Harry's smirk just grew wider as Neville started reading again.

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

"That actually did make him look like a pig." Harry muttered, causing Lucius, Severus and Voldemort to snort to themselves.

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

"Such disrespect!" Voldemort growled, wishing for his lovely Nagini. The room itself giggled and a snake appeared hissing angrily. :_What is this nonsense! One moment I am resting on my warm rock and the next! Master!_: She cried, slithering over to Voldemort. :_Where are we and what are we doing here?_: She hissed in a whining voice. Voldemort petted her head soothingly, :_Do not fret, Nagini, we are safe here. No harm shall come to us whilst we are here._: Nagini nodded, though still not calm, she slithered up onto her master, coiling around him, drawing warmth from him.

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

Nagini's head shot up as she hissed. :_I remember that muggle human named Dudley!_: Her tongue flicked through the air, she turned to look at Harry, flicking her tongue out toward him. He shook his head minutely, to which she bowed slightly, coiling back up against her master.

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned as he shuffled away.**

:_And you're fat._: Nagini retorted to the book, causing Harry to barely stifle a snort. She peered at him and hissed in amusement.

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself - no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. **

:_I thought I had once. But then I just realized that I had fallen asleep and woken up upside down. Rather funny feeling that._: Voldemort chuckled at his snake, running his fingers along her scales.

**It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

:_This human child did not have a proper bedroom?_: The snake asked, slightly appalled. Voldemort shook his head, ignoring the many looks they were receiving. :_How preposterous!_: She hissed lowly.

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

:_Being stuck in a small glass box for your entire life tends to give you a flair for the dramatic._: She hissed sardonically to the book. Harry had clutched his side, glaring at the snake as he did his best to not laugh.

_**It winked.**_

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.**

**The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:**

"_**I get that all the time.**_**"**

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

Neville paused, staring directly at Voldemort, who turned to his snake. :_Nagini, you couldn't understand English until I had made you into a Horcrux, correct?_: The snake nodded, staring at her master, wondering how he could be so slow when it came to the younger snake speaker.

:_So that means…what does that mean, master?_: She coaxed, pointing her tail to the other snake speaker. :_It means…that he can speak our language._: A different voice came from across the room, :_Dingdingding. We have a winner._: Harry hissed, a slightly derisive tone in his voice.

Nagini hissed out a laugh, slithering down her master's body over to the boy, who allowed her to curl around him. She laid her head down next to his head, on his shoulder, flicking her tongue out to his ear as she hissed low enough for only him to hear. :_You know, he talks about you all the time. Harry this and Harry that. Drives me insane, really. He even talks about you in his sleep, though most of those times, it's about mating with you._: She smirked as well as a snake could when she felt the boy's face heat up, oh, it was going to be fun, playing with them.

Neville coughed lowly, catching everyone's attention.

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa Constrictor, Brazil.**

"**Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see - so you've never been to Brazil?"**

"You know, I've always thought that was rather offensive what the sign said. Calling you a specimen." Harry murmured as he pet Nagini, hearing her hiss in delight. "You're not a specimen, if anything, you're a work of art." Voldemort's breath caught in his throat when he heard Harry say that to his snake as Severus and Lucius smiled to each other.

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T **_**BELIEVE **_**WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

"That would be Piers." Harry said, sneering slightly. "A guy can't have a decent conversation with a snake without being interrupted or having the snake blasted." Severus, remembering the incident from second year, said, "Gilderoy deserved to end up where he did, even if it was just for that."

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs hard, making a couple of them crack. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.**

Both Harry and Nagini hissed in remembrance of that.

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened - one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

Harry smirked, while Nagini hissed in laughter.

**Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.**

**As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come…Thanksss, amigo."**

"Did you ever happen to make it to Brazil?" Nagini shook her head sadly. Harry worried his lip, because nodding to himself and saying, "Whenever we get the time, we're going to go to Brazil, okay, Nagini?" To which the snake hissed in extreme delight, nodding her head quickly. :_I would love that, little snake speaker._: Harry smiled at the large snake, stroking her head lovingly.

Voldemort watched on, fighting the small smile that tugged at his non-lips, knowing it wouldn't do anything besides scare the other people in the room. He leaned over to Severus and murmured in his ear about pushing ways to get his former looks back. Severus nodded and wrote that down on the list of things that needed to get done.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.**

"**But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

"No where. I had just made it invisible and permeable." Harry said, his eyebrow quirked, answering the question before anyone in the room could ask it.

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, **

:_I might have cut it a little close once or twice._: Nagini admitted happily. The two Parseltongues in the room snorted, Harry cheering Nagini and stroking her head even more.

**but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

The people in the room groaned, while Harry just shrugged, saying, "I got him back for that." Refusing to go into detail just yet.

**Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go - cupboard - stay - no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"Hence why Kor can sneak around school practically unnoticed." George said, Fred adding, "Well, one of the reasons." They smirked to each other, then to the rest of their brothers and sisters.

Harry gave a content sigh, snuggling further into his chair and Nagini's coils, who hissed soothingly, happy to help keep the boy calm.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash, if you didn't count when he was at school. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. He had always thought that to be strange, as well as having no inset fear of cars in general.**

**Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. **

Voldemort drew in a sharp breath at the reminder. No one should have to remember that…he sighed, beating himself up over that night. His followers watched on, now gaining hope of a chance of restoring their lord to his former glory.

**He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. **

Harry rolled his eyes, sighing in remembrance of Diggle. The man had always and probably always would, freak him out. He honestly hoped Creevy didn't grow up to be like him. He was much too entertaining to have to kill.

**Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. **

Harry giggled. "Flitwick. He is horrid at blending in with muggles."

**After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. **

**A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. **

He had to think back to remember her, "Bagshot, for sure. She's another person I've only met once or twice at most, but…you remember her."

**A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street this past summer and then walked away without a word. **

He rolled his eyes, running his hand over his face. "Diggle. That man scares me. I'm very glad to have only ran into him twice."

**The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

Voldemort nodded, "That would be the wonders of apparation." He stated, peering over at Harry, who snorted. "It's still creepy."

**At school, Harry had no one. Though, he didn't really mind this one bit, he had set his reputation early, so no one would take advantage of him. **

Harry shuddered at the memories of that school and just what the other boys would do to each other.

**In a way, it reminded him of being at his old school with Dudley, because everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

Neville quickly closed the book, tossing it over to Sirius, who fumbled with it, but caught it.

"Before we continue with this, I believe we have an issue we need to talk about." Harry announced, staring pointedly at Remus, who nodded solemnly.

"Don't look like that, Remus. It won't be painful or turn you into a wild animal, so calm down. To merge with your wolf, you just need to set up a communication with him and talk to him. Every wolf and human have a different way of setting up this communication, so I can't tell you an exact way of doing so." Harry explain to Remus, who nodded again, his brow furrowing.

"Now, may I suggest we break for a quick lunch while Moony works on merging? After that, we can continue with this book."

There were nods from every person in the room as a the tables appears, plates already positioned on top of them, carrying each person's favorite meal, as with what breakfast had.

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3,478/15,576

Oh. Oh wow. You…you guys are amazing. I come back to check reviews after sleeping and see I have nine…NINE reviews (and…like…70 story alerts, what? Holy crap balls). On not only my first fanfiction, but one with a plot that seems to drive people away. I really wasn't expecting any and was really excited when I saw that I had gotten two after a couple hours of posting, the first being constructive criticism which is ALWAYS welcome, as I've never done this before. I was actually overjoyed that someone even noticed my story…but nine reviews…wow. I just…wow…I seriously have nothing else to say because of how happy that made me. So…I'll just respond to the reviews now.

OH WAIT. Before I do that, I just have to say. I do go over every chapter, no matter how long for grammatical errors, because I make a lot of them, but I know I'm not going to catch all of them, because I have a minor reading disorder, nothing huge, obviously, but I'll sometimes switch words around, or letters, I guess that would be dyslexia, but I don't want to call it that because it isn't…that bad. ANYWAY. If you do happen to notice an error, please point it out. I'm not going to bite anyone's head off for pointing that stuff out or giving me constructive criticism, I just don't want comments that are like "lols u suck." Because I know I suck, but I sometimes blow.

All blowjob humor aside, here are my responses to your reviews:

**Little Lunacy** – Well I really hope I can make the rest of my chapters as interesting for you as this one was. I, too, got bored of reading them, so…I decided to write my own. A little off tangent, I guess, but oh well.

**ElementalFoxGoddess** – haha, thanks. I try to insert as much humour as I possibly can into my writings. Especially since most of my writing was for teachers and many of them don't rightly like people writing about sex for school papers, but if I added it in a humourous sense, then they would tell me it was creative…teachers confuse me, but my writing is a lot more interesting now because of it. I'm a bit obsessed with this pairing. I was struggling for a long time for which Slytherin I was going to put Harry with, but Harry just seems to fit with Voldie.

**Lightsoul34** – Well, thanks, I was a little worried people would pass this story up, deeming it unoriginal. The first chapter took the longest out of all of them. It's just so difficult for me to write just commentary. But, I'm hoping that I can get chapters out within days of getting one out. I mean, I really have no reason to not get these stories out rather quickly, as I like writing and have oodles of free time. Oh gosh, I just said oodles, anyway, yes I am going to explain the nicknames, it probably won't be until halfway through this fanfiction or the next.

**Dweiathecat **– lol! I think that Voldie sent some of his magic into Nagini, along with making her a Horcrux, so she could protect herself if need be, with Parselmagic, it would make sense, I mean, dark magic, mixed with a soul shard from someone who is admittedly insane would be enough to change any being's physical composition, if you ask me.

**randomazn** – Thanks.~ Here is the update. I hope it came soon.

**EquusNanashi **– I've seen one other fanfiction with this pairing. It was alright, but didn't have exactly what I am looking for with a story like this. The only one I've seen so far that I love, would be…The Pen is a Sword: Book One by A Being of Violet Fire. The pairing is Harry/Draco, though. But it is still really good, in my honest opinion.

Haha, I made it this way because I was tired of seeing stories like this that had little to no outside story. I really want to be able to continue this story once they are done reading the books, you know? Hopefully branch out all the way to past Harry's seventh year. Have a couple stories past the main part of the story. I mean, I really don't want this to just end after the reading of the fourth book, where they all go off on their merry ways and continue on as if nothing ever happened.

**devilin** – haha I'm excited for the next chapter, too and I'm the one writing it.

**Zenro** – awww thanks. I try to make it as balanced as possible, you know? So, it makes me happy to know that I'm actually succeeding.

I will be reading through and responding to every review to the best of my ability.

Also, beyond the Harry/Voldie pairing, whom do y'all want to see together?

I'd really like to pair Neville and Severus together. Don't you think that would be absolutely adorable?

And the twins with Draco, or Draco with Ginny or Draco with Luna, I'm not quite sure just who I want to pair Draco with, though I've always thought Draco/twins was…for lack of better word…hot, so I'll need some opinions on that.

I'm also not sure whom I want to pair the girls with. I'm not very good at pairings that include girls, but I'm certainly going to try.

So far, I've got:

Harry/Voldemort

Severus/ Neville (I mean, come on, one is obsessed with plants, the other with potions…)

Lucius/Narcissa (I don't have the heart to split them…it's just too cute)

Now here is where y'all come in…VOTING TIME:

Twins/Draco: 0 votes

Sirius/Draco: 0 votes

By the end of this, I'm going to have Draco paired with someone, particularly male, because, honestly, the boy just screams gay. Doesn't him with the twins or Sirius just seem so freaking hot? I just…I don't even know. I'm not sure about Luna. I've got an idea for her, but it would require her living without a pairing. Also, if you all have any suggestions about who you want to see paired with who, just send a review. Also, I don't know if y'all know this, but you can review anonymously.

Also, the galleon amount came from a muggle money to galleon converter.


	3. BOOKS OF TRUTH CHAPTER THREE

Chapter Three

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**Nickname legend**

**Korakas** (Harry) – Quite literally means "Go to the Ravens!" which is similar to "Go to hell!"/ "Go to ruin!" / "Go to hang!". Lovely, isn't it?

**Dolos** (Fred) – _Greek Mythology; _Spirit of trickery, cunning deception, craftiness, treachery and guile.

**Deimos** (George) – _Greek Mythology; _Spirit of fear, dread and terror.

There will be more that pop up, by the way:

**Achos **(Neville) – _Greek Mythology;_ One of the three spirits of pain and suffering, being the spirit of trouble and distress.

**Ker **(Ginny) – This one is a little bit harder to explain then the rest. The Keres were the daughters of Nyx and Erebus and are typically known as female death-spirits and were the sisters of the three goddesses of fate (the Moirai) (though I have generally personified Fate as one being, you all will see them branch into three individual beings), Doom (Moros), Death and Sleep (Thanatos and Hypnos), Strife (Eris), Old Age (Geras), Devine Retribution (Nemesis), Charon (The Ferryman of Hades, brought souls of the newly deceased across Styx and Acheron) and many other personifications that I'm too lazy to even type out. The name Ker means 'Destruction' and she was one of the many sisters of the Keres.

**Clotho** (The maker of the room) – The first of the three sisters of fate, she spun the thread of life.

**Lachesis **(Luna) – The second of the three sisters of fate, she measures the threads of life for each person and typically watched as the events each person's life unfolded.

**Atropos **(Withholding that information from you guys, because I'm evil) – The third and possibly the most infamous of the three daughters of fate, she is the cutter of the life thread, she chooses when and how a person dies and when it is their time to die, she cut the life thread with her shears.

Those are the ones that are going to come up within this fanfiction and the sequel. I'm not sure when the others will come up, but yer…

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After lunch and Remus giving up on merging his wolf with his self. "_Only for the moment_." He had growled his eyes swirling both amber and their natural honey brown, causing Harry to giggle happily at the man/wolf. He could tell that the man was close. All he needed was a push of anger and he and Moony would finally be one.

Cheered greatly by his godson's happiness, no matter who or what caused it, '_Loyal to my pup to the last_.' Sirius picked up the book, flipping through the pages before moaning in defeat. "I got the long chapter." He whined softly, causing Moony to chuckle. Sirius cleared his throat and said, "This chapter is…**The Letters from No One**."

Severus snorted, "Minerva would probably have a small fit if she heard that. She spends hours signing those bloody things."

Harry quirked his brow, "Oh really?" Severus nodded, rolling his eyes. "How…interesting." He murmured softly.

When he noticed the intense look he was receiving from his godfather, he flapped his hand, a non-committal noise coming from him. Sirius just sighed and began to read, knowing getting information from his pup was like pulling teeth.

**The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor was thankfully completely forgotten by the time he came back from the rest of his school year. **

"Oh, that's good." Tonks murmured. She had taken stance as an auror soon after the second chapter had begun. She hadn't been sure why she had been there at first, seeing as she didn't really even know Harry that well, but now…now she knew. She was here as an auror, one that had never been fully on either side, only joining the order for the means of protection. Settling into her chair, she watched everything closely, taking it all into account for later.

**But, having not been allowed out of the cupboard until he was sent back, he had missed the opportunity to nick any of the things Dudley had gotten for his birthday. **

Harry pouted at that, "Some of it was valuable, too. Like, one of the games, which I don't think I saw once when I had gotten back, was a limited edition, worth a good hundred pounds." He grouched.

Nagini hissed in amusement, :_You could always just steal one hundred pounds from them. If they feed a child enough to make him the size of three, that much money would not go amiss, I do not believe._: Harry giggled as Voldemort snickered into his hand.

:_Ah, but Nagini. Where would be the fun in that?_: Harry asked the snake in a mock pout.

The snake just hissed out a giggle, flicking her tongue against his cheek. Voldemort watched all of this with a slight glee flickering in his eyes.

Harry then turned to Voldemort, curious, "I just have to ask, considering that you've made me and Nagini a horcrux, would there be a need for making or keeping any extras? I mean, say you were to merge your other horcruxes, assuming you have more then the ones we have talked about, of course, with your main soul piece…and then kept either me or Nagini around most, if not all of the time, what would that mean for your power, mental stability and physical characteristics? Because…don't get me wrong, you are powerful in this state, but when we dueled, I felt that there was something lacking…"

"Of course, I really don't care about your physical characteristics, because really, that isn't what makes you interesting, though, I'm not going to lie, when I saw you in your diary in my second year…" Harry made a guttural noise, but continued on, "and even in that state, I could feel that bit of your soul just exuded power. I remember being draw to that power like a moth to a flame, to be embarrassingly honest." Harry said the last part softly, a soft blush tinting his cheeks.

"But really, if you merged all of that power back within yourself, it would make sense that you would regain not only said power, but any and all characteristics you lost when you would split your soul." Voldemort nodded, deep in thought.

"The idea certainly has merit and it would be considerably easier to achieve, not only on my followers, but on myself…" He nodded, more to himself then anything. "I propose we try that first, with one soul piece, of course." He said to Lucius and Severus, who nodded.

In that moment, there was a flash, and resting on the table, atop the stack of books was Ravenclaw's diadem. Voldemort smirked, standing up and walking over to the small crown, stroking it almost fondly. He stood and asked to the room, "I assume you'd be able to bring all of my soul pieces here?" The room hummed an affirmative, letting a black, misty ball gather on the top of the table. It let out a garbled, but deep sound, almost like a humming that shot toward Voldemort, sinking into his chest. He bit his lip to keep from screaming out as pain shot through him.

He heard his bones crunching and shifting, the tendons and muscles surrounding them snapping and tearing, meshing themselves back together. He felt the cartilage on his face shifting as well, forming a new structure.

As quickly as it had started, it was over, leaving a tired and sore Dark Lord sitting in his chair, everyone in the room gaping at him, including his Nagini. "May I ask what you are all staring at?" He asked, noting how foreign his voice sounded to himself.

Ginny regained her wits first. "Well, to be honest…you look…a lot better then you did. Whatever that black mist was…it certainly did some good to you." She giggled, her eyes wide as she stared at the previously snake faced man.

Harry picked his jaw up off of the floor and said, "You have hair…and a nose." He motioned to his own nose dumbly. "You look like you did when I saw you in the diary. To be honest, it's a tad bit disconcerting, if you take your age into consideration. I mean…Merlin…you look almost as young as Neville!" Harry's brow furrowed as he thought, "But that would mean that, even if you destroy the vessel of a horcrux, you couldn't contain the soul piece. It would just be floating around, waiting to join the main core." Voldemort nodded, smirking slightly.

"That is why they are so useful, Potter. I can never die, at least not spiritually." Voldemort then turned his attention back to the diadem. "Now, how do we destroy this? Horcruxes are rather difficult to destroy…" Harry then stood up and walked over to his bag, merely bringing it back with him.

"I'm getting tired of having to walk over there every time I need something." Harry murmured, more to himself and his bag then to anyone else. He flipped it open and started pulling items out, continuing until the bag seemed empty.

Ginny coughed lowly, "Maybe you should tell the people who don't have any idea what is going on just what it is that you're doing?" Harry merely grunted in response before hissing out, :_Ostendo sum admiratio vos habitum._:

He then peered around at the people in the room. "I'll be back in a moment. If I'm not…well…Voldemort can come find me." With that, he dropped the back onto the floor and jumped inside of it. Instead of stopping once he had reached the floor, his entire body disappeared, leaving seven dumbfounded adults and one gaping teenager behind.

Ginny checked her nails flippantly after a few minutes, looking thoroughly bored. She stood and walked over to the bag, pulling it open and yelling, "Would you hurry the bloody hell up?" There was a whistling noise that came from the bag before a very odd shaped object flew out and smacked Ginny in the face. She screeched in disgust, barely heard over the roars of laughter of everyone who recognized the object. She toed the offending object back to the bag, where it disappeared.

The girl turned to her seat and stomped over to it, scrubbing her face with her hand as she went. The purebloods (and Voldemort), that weren't friends with Harry, looked mildly confused. Seconds later, the boy in question climbed out of the bag with a self-satisfied smirk on his face.

Draco, unable to curb his curiosity asked, "Just what did you just throw at girl Weasley, Potter?" Both twins snorted in laughter at Draco's name for their sister, while Harry's smirk transformed into a more shit-eating grin.

"We'll talk about it later, Malfoy. Anyway…" He held up a small box, trotting over to Voldemort, setting it down in front of the man, and opening the box slowly. He pulled on a pair of Dragon Hide gloves that were placed on top of all of the items in the box. Slowly, carefully, he withdrew a medium sized basilisk tooth out and tooth the diadem from the man, walking back over to the table, watching as the three other books sank down into the table, he placed the diadem gently onto the table.

Staring around the room, he concentrated on the softly thrumming crown before drawing the fang up and bringing down sharply, stabbing through it, cringing back when an unearthly scream sounded through the room as a black mist billowed out, circling around Harry only for a moment before darting to the Dark Lord.

After the process was finished, Voldemort still twitching slightly from the pain the soul merging had caused, though his face remained stoic, Sirius cleared his throat, "Er, Harry…how exactly did you come across basilisk fangs?" Harry opened his mouth, trying to think of the best way to explain his self.

"Um…you'll find out in my second year, no doubt." Ginny giggled and nodded in agreement as Harry closed the box and carried it back to his seat. He picked up his bag and hissed, :_Propinquus vestri specialis._:, placing the items laying around his chair back into his bag.

"Okay, I just have to ask. Why exactly is your bag?" Draco asked, staring at the bag in awe. Harry snorted, shaking his head.

"It's a normal bag. I bought it when I was eleven. Well, actually, Hagrid got me to buy it when I was eleven. After struggling with it for long enough, I got fed up and looked up a way to make it feather light and found other useful things to add to it." He shrugged nonchalantly. "Featherlight charm, then I added a bottomless effect and separated the bottomless part from the regular bag, while keeping it connected to the bag, warding it with a password that only snakes and two people that I know of can say. It took a bit of runic warding and couple potions, but honestly, it was worth it." He ended with a murmur as he pushed the box to the right of his chair.

"If that is all, I'd really like to get back to the book." Harry said, crossing his arms. "We can continue with these subjects after a least this chapter. It really would do well to just list down all of the subjects we will need to talk in length about and do so after the reading of these books." Severus, who had been holding the parchment that had been produced by the room, nodded in agreement and started marking down all of the topics that had been broached in small detail, but not nearly enough for everyone.

"If that is all, I suggest Black continue with the reading." Sirius opened his mouth to make a scathing remark to the potions master, only to close it with a click when he found himself on the end of a sharp glare from his godson. Grumbling under his breath, he raised the book up and began to read again.

**By the time the summer holidays had started, Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.**

"That had been insanely funny to watch. It actually happened the day I got back. I thought he had crushed her…I think I actually cracked one of my ribs trying to not laugh. It was the funniest, it's even funnier now, considering that I now know that she has reported everything she saw back to Dumbledore…of which would probably include the time I came to her house with finger shaped bruises on my neck." He snorted softly, shaking his head. "You know, if Dumbledore really wanted me to trust him, he should try doing something that is actually…trustworthy." Voldemort and Severus snorted, knowing exactly what the boy was talking about.

**Harry was glad school was over, as he had finally gone through every book in the library, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day and had no such qualms with beating the living shit out of him, if they could catch him. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon- **

Harry heard Voldemort tell Severus to write those names down as well. He felt a flutter in his chest that made the corners of his mouth quirk up despite himself, something that didn't go unnoticed by Nagini, who hissed contently, knowing that her master and this hatchling, they would fit perfectly with each other, she could even say that they were made for one another, the way their magic wove together…she knew human emotions were fickle and from what she remembered from the graveyard was that, minus the smell of lust that had permeated from the both of them, there had been a deep anger and sadness that came from the boy, originating from her master. Even now, she could feel the inklings of mistrust and anger the boy felt for the other man, though they seemed to be dwindling into nothingness.

**-were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. **

Sirius paused in his reading to snort. "That is absolute nonsense." Harry nodded in agreement, sighing in mock woe.

He then added his own bit into that. "Really everyone with a brain knows you put the most intelligent, cunning and well…intelligent person as the leader, but alas, Dudley's gang is nothing more then a group of teenagers committing petty crimes and bullying people out of their pocket change." He finished with a shrug.

Sirius scoffed at the fat boy in the book, "I'm at least mostly Gryffindor and I know enough that I made sure James was the leader of the Marauders." Sirius stated sadly. He then looked up to Severus, looking greatly pained. "You know, it probably isn't worth much, but…I am sorry, about the…you know…" He looked contrite for the moment, running his fingers through his shaggy hair. "It really wasn't supposed to end out the way it did, we hadn't known that Moony would do that, he had been pretty tame the few months before that, not even attacking us in human form, but it only takes so much to piss off a wolf, you know? I think Moony was starting to get tired of being on the sidelines…but that is neither here nor there. I just…" He paused for a moment, his shoulders almost sagging before he made a noise of achievement in the back of his throat and drew himself up. Standing up quickly, he made a deep bow to Severus, saying, "I, Sirius Black, last sole heir of the Black line, do hereby apologize to one Severus Snape for the any and all mental and physical harm done by my hand. So mote it be." There was a flash of light between them, signifying the death of a bond built from pain.

Harry smiled happily at his godfather, as well as the shell-shocked potions master. Thinking on it, he also stood, bowing deeply to his professor. "I, Harry James Potter, the sole heir of the Potter, Gryffindor, Prewett and Grindlewald lines, as well as the secondary beneficiary of the Slytherin and Black lines, hereby and hence forth, nullify the life debt placed by one James Potter on the life of Severus Snape, therefor freeing him from any otherworldly duties. So mote it be." There was a secondary, brighter, flash of light and Severus felt a weight being lifted from his shoulders for the first time in years.

Harry sat back down, smiling proudly at his godfather, who gave a small, half-smile back. "Now…as touching as this all is, I think we should get back to the story as well as give the professor a moment to pull himself out of shock." Sirius just giggled, turning to look at Remus, who, while looking almost as shocked at Severus, had a gleam of pride shining in his eyes. Sirius just grinned goofily and turned back to the book, picking up where he had left off.

**The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.**

Sirius paused to growl, his happy mood diminished slightly from the thought of his pup being brutalized, in any manner.

**This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, usually at the library, or bookstore, (it didn't matter to him, as he used them both the same way)-**

Harry giggled at this, remembering how many books he had gathered from the stores over the years, even after being at Hogwarts. "You know, it's more fun to do stuff like that without the aide of magic." He said, a devious grin flitting across his face. "It's a bit of a rush, to know you could possibly be caught doing something illegal." He shrugged, "Maybe that's part of the reason I break so many rules." He gave a half smile, his eyes glinting in a way that scared even Voldemort's followers.

A smirk tugged at Sirius's lips, his pup may not have been raised in the best of conditions, but, by Merlin, he liked the way the boy came out of it with muggle weapons blaring.

**-or wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came, Dudley would be going off to secondary school, meaning there was a small possibility that he wouldn't be able to take off on his birthday. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too.**

Sirius paused, opening his mouth to ask, but Harry beat him to the answer, "The terms of acceptance have nothing to do with ability. Only if the parents can pay for the child to go through school, bribery also helps and if one of the parents went there before the child, as well as how notorious the parent was when he or she was attending." He said lazily, suddenly standing up.

Walls shot up around him, startling half of the people in the room. Ginny rolled her eyes, looking over at Neville, whose shoulders were shaking in amusement. She peered over at Voldemort, who was looking at her skeptically. She just shrugged and said, "You get used to it, really. There have been moments when I have been talking to him, while focusing on something else, even if it's for just that moment, I'll look back to where he was and he'll have just disappeared. His…er…his social skills are not quite up to par." Neville snorted, mumbling something that sounded like 'understatement'.

A few minutes later, the walls came down, showing that Harry was already sitting back down in his chair, having changed out of his school clothes to a pair of loose fitting black muggle jeans and a green T-Shirt that had 'I'm here because you broke something' written across it in bold letters, under that was a thick striped grey and black long sleeved shirt. He kicked his feet up over the one of the arms of the chair, showing a pair of black canvas shoes, covered in spikes. On his right wrist, which was currently stretched up over his head, his other hand splayed out on his stomach. He sighed happily, snuggling further into his chair.

"Are you ready, then?" Neville asked, to which Harry nodded, giggling softly. "Right then, Sirius, if you would." He said, turning to Sirius with his brow quirked. Sirius stared at him for a moment, before shivering.

"You are almost as scary as Harry." He muttered, before turning back to the book, ignoring the snickers coming from the two boys he was talking about.

**Harry, on the other hand, was going back to St. Brutus's. Dudley thought this was very funny.**

Harry snorted. "That's because I told them they beat the kids there. They didn't. I mean, some, the rookies, would try, but really, most of the kids there were going to be put away for life after they were old enough to go, so, while there were rules there, the children didn't actually follow them." He blinked, remembering something, "there were a lot of older kids that seemed to think that the desks were a great place to have sex, especially when the teacher was trying to teach. You ended up being able to just ignore things like that." He shrugged, giggling softly.

Sirius stared at his godson for a full minute, gaping a little, before slowly turning back to the book.

"**They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Smelting's," he told Harry. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"**

"**No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it - it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

Harry snickered quietly. "Mr. Potter, that was undoubtedly Slytherin." Lucius murmured softly, still attempting to process everything the boy had seen in his young life, Harry just smirked to the older man, but said nothing.

Ginny made a tsking noise and said, "That was a very lame joke, funny, but lame nonetheless." Harry just rolled his eyes, quirking his brow at Ginny. "Oh, and your jokes at the age of eleven were much better, right?" Ginny flushed, but sat back in her chair, grumbling to herself.

**The best part of the summer so far had been when he had gotten Polkiss back for ratting him out at the zoo, though he most likely added to it for all the times the boy had made sure Dudley cracked a rib while they were playing their usual game.**

Harry grinned and leaned in, wondering what they would think of this. Sirius noticed out of the corner of his eye and started reading louder, making sure everyone was paying attention. People around the room started noticing how excited Harry was getting and also leaned in, listening intently to this bit of the story.

**He had been quite proud his achievement, if he was to be honest, calling in his friend for help, the moment he had seen the boy, he knew he was going to need to cause him some pain. Sneaking out of number four that night, he crept over to Polkiss house, mentally thanking Gizmo for probably the millionth time for teaching him how to pick locks,**

"What! We didn't learn how to pick locks-"

"-until the summer before our third year!"

"Harry, you should have-"

"-taught us this wonderful skill."

The twins said, pouting slightly, to which Harry just stared at amusedly. "Oh, but, where is the fun in that? Besides, in a sense, I did teach you. I did it in front of both of you at least fifty times during the first school year. I assume you both watched me, and then took time reciprocating my actions until you figured it out on your own. That is how I learned, that is how I teach." He finished with a shrug, waving for Sirius to continue reading.

**-slinking through the halls of the uniform house, he twitched with the need to ruin it. Picking out a vent in the dark,**

"That's how muggles circulate air through their house, it's like continuous heating or cooling charms." Harry explained before Draco could ask.

**-he relieved himself into it, snickering quietly.**

Outside of the book, Harry was also snickering. "You see, the thing with vents, at least in muggle homes, is that it is almost impossible to clean them, or pinpoint where the smell is coming from and piss, if left for more then a few hours, smells really awful."

Sirius laughed uproariously, "How long did they have to deal with that?" He asked. Harry grinned, drawing himself up proudly.

"From what I know, they spent about five months trying to just ignore the smell before they decided to call a technician, but by then, the smell had already seeped so deeply into the walls that no amount of cleaning was going to get it out for good, they just had to let it air out. So far, it still smells minutely like piss, but no where near as strong as it was the summer before my fourth year." He smirked, then sunk back into the cushion, saying, "Really, though, the whole peeing in the vents thing was nothing compared to what happens next."

Taking the hint and noting that Narcissa looked slightly green, Sirius brought the book back up and continued.

**He was soon finished and continuing on his way to the room built for children, he stopped for a moment in front of the parents' room, hearing sounds of sex coming from behind the door. He pulled a disgusted face, having just read about how men have sex with women. It did seem rather disgusting, if he was to be completely honest.**

Neville and the twins cried out a 'Hear, hear!' while Ginny looked slightly put out, but mostly amused, as if remembering something hilarious when Harry said, "I still think it's disgusting," much to the surprise of the Slytherins. Thinking the Boy Who Lived was even bisexual was a shock and now…they weren't really sure what to do with this current information. On top of that, anyone from the Weasley or Longbottom family being remotely homosexual was a huge shock, as they were both families of rather ridiculous standards. So, instead of commenting, they just stayed silent, though Severus, Draco and Voldemort were all staring at their own prize, a rather odd notion for Draco indeed.

**Shaking his head, he continued on, his lip curled slightly. Finally coming to the door in question, he silently turned the knob, asking his friend if he could make this individual room silent, after he had entered the room and closed the door. There was a minute of nothing before he got a hum of affirmation from his friend. Nodding to himself, he could feel the dark mass thrumming in excitement under his skin, knowing exactly what it was about to do.**

The entire room was now silent, everyone peering from the book to Harry, who was grinning an almost maniacal grin. The glint in his eyes put everyone on the edge of their seats.

**In a moment, he was standing over the fat boy, who was asleep in his bed and shook him awake roughly. "Wakey, wakey, Polkiss." He crooned to the boy, jolting him awake. "Po'er?" The boy mumbled, half asleep still. In turn, Harry grinned widely, nodding. **

"**Hello, Polkiss, dear. You remember snitching to my relatives about me talking to that snake in the zoo?" The boy nodded slowly, turning slightly paler then normal. Harry leaned in closer to the boy, murmuring into his ear, "You know what they do to snitches at my school, Polkiss?" The boy shook his head quickly, whimpering softly, staring wide-eyed up at Harry. **

"**Oh, you don't? Well, you see, it stands as a rule that all snitches get punished. Especially those who snitch about something that is none." He punctuated the word by punching the boy roughly in the stomach, causing him to cry out. "Of their bloody business!" The last bit came out as more of a snarl, before he took a deep breath, his grin still stretched across his face.**

**Leaning even closer to the boy, he wiped the grin off his face, a more dangerously seductive look coming across it, "Many of the boys there will force sexual favors from the snitch, usually 'forgetting' to prepare said boy properly, I myself was on the, literal and figurative, ass end of a fair few of these punishments before I learned." His voice came out as a purr as he ran a finger along the line of the boy's jaw.**

Sirius paused and took a deep, admittedly shaky, breath. "You were raped by a student at that school?"

Harry made a soft uncommitted noise, "It's not pretty, but you really can't expect the kids there to learn their lesson from being beat physically, can you? Many of the kids there come from an abusive home life. Violence does nothing to them, except excite a few. You have to do something that makes a lasting impression or they continue to do it over and over again."

No one dared asked if he himself had ever run one of these punishments, hoping that this punishment wasn't either.

**By now, the boy was shaking so hard that his bed was squeaking and groaning in protest. He chuckled darkly, drawing that much closer to the frightened boy, "But…I've found such methods to be barbaric. I have a much more suitable method." He murmured lowly, shoving his hand into his large pants pocket and digging around. Soon, he pulled out a lollipop. He had lifted a large bag of them earlier in the week, using half of it to bribe Dudley to clean his pigsty of a room, so he wouldn't have to deal with it as a chore.**

**He unwrapped it slowly, taking extreme pleasure in the boy's confused look. He paused only for a moment before pushing the lollipop to the boy's lips and growling, "Eat it or I might change my mind about your punishment." Polkiss didn't need more encouragement, taking the lollipop into his mouth and sucking on it. Harry pulled his hand back and stepped away, grinning happily.**

**After only a moment, the fatter boy started to pull the lollipop out to ask how this could be a punishment, when Harry pushed his friend into the other boy, forcing the mass to run through his veins. As soon as he had spread it evenly throughout the boy, he focused on giving him as much pain as humanly possible without driving him over the edge.**

**He spent the next five minutes watching Polkiss writhe in pain, screams being pushed out from between his lips. Tears were streaming down the boy's face as he clawed at himself, trying to find the source of the pain and tear it out. Harry grinned, knowing he would never find it, the next morning, he would think it was the lolli that did it, it being poisoned.**

No one in the room seemed to breath for a few moments, besides Harry, who was chuckling lowly to himself. "Before you ask, that wasn't a wandless Crucio. It…I don't know how to explain it, it'd be easier to just use it on one of you, so you can explain how it feels. He then pulled the box up onto his lap, pulling the lid off. He began to dig around, humming softly. After a moment, he stilled and pulled out a small vial. "What is that, Mr. Potter?" Severus asked, his eyebrows in his hairline. Harry bit his lip and said, "It's nothing, at least to the wizarding world. It's the potion to counter the effects of what my…spell…does. Can't really have a potion for a spell that doesn't actually exist." He shrugged.

"So…" He began again, standing up slowly. "Who wants to do this, I'm not going to be doing it to any of the Gryffindors, because, besides Tonks, every Gryffindor in here has either knowingly or unknowingly been a test subject…" Harry coughed nervously when Remus stared at him, unamused. He held up his hands in defeat. "Would you rather I give people a potion that wasn't tested? If it helps, you were the last person that was used as a test subject…" He said weakly, smiling to the still merging wolf.

Remus stared at his cub for a moment longer, before he rolled his eyes and grinned, growling lightly. Harry took notice of the lengthened canines. Harry tilted his head slightly and then said, "Hey Moony. Welcome to the land of coexistence." The wolf howled happily causing Harry to giggle.

"Anyway…which of you is going to be the willing test subject? I'd say the choice is between you, Professor Snape and you, Mr. Malfoy." He murmured, stepping up in front of Voldemort, who was between the two men. "No offence, but it'd be really odd to see a dark lord writhing in pain." Harry giggled nervously. Ginny merely snorted.

"Oh, it has nothing to do with you not wanted to see him in any kind of distress at all, then? Oh, none at all." She said sardonically as the other Gryffindors snickered at the quickly reddening Harry. "Piss off, wankers." He mumbled before turning his back to them, ignoring their laughter, as well as the look on Voldemort's face, which seemed to be a mix between shocked, amused and pleased.

He turned to Snape, who rolled his eyes and stood. He looked back and grinned at Neville when he heard the whimper. He stared at the other man casually, pushing his magic out to engulf his potions professor, evading the foreign magic, he got his own to thrum through the man's veins. Severus shivered at the feeling of the foreign magic. "Okay, starting in 3…2…1." On the one, Severus keeled over with a loud yell, twisting and writhing on the floor, scratching at himself. Harry kept him under for a little less then a minute, before lifting the spell and pulling his magic back inside of himself.

He quickly went over to him and forced the potion down his throat, watching out for the still jerking limbs. Soon, Severus's breathing had calmed and he stood slowly. "That was…so much worse then the Crucio. It felt like I was being torn apart, a hot poker being place in each new wound. It was…you created that when you were ten?" He finished with a question, not quite sure how to explain how it had felt. He shook himself and sat down in his chair, watching as Harry walked back to his own chair.

"No. As the past me said, I found the normal way of punishment barbaric, so I merely made myself a new way. I had perfected it by the time I was eight, if you really want to know." He murmured with a shrug. "I wanted to make something that made people feel like they were being torn apart, put back together and torn apart again all at the same time and so, that is what I got. He finished his explanation with a shrug.

Sirius, who had stayed silent for this exchange cleared his throat, pulling the attention back to him. "If I may? He murmured. There was a wave of nods as Severus wrote another subject they would need to talk about at the end of the reading.

**He had spent the next ten minutes warning the other boy about telling this to anyone, because he really should learn how to keep his mouth shut. He was soon out of the house, leaving little trace to even prove he had been there in the first place.**

**x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x **

No one seemed to be able to think of a decent comment for that, besides a playful growl from Remus and a scattering of snickers. "It really is rather useful, that." Harry said, stretching even further into his chair, "To this day, that dumbfuck is too scared to tell anyone about anything." He shrugged, waving Sirius to continue on.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. **

"Which really, that is a small miracle in and of itself. I've seen that woman share a candlelit tin of cat food with one of her kneazles. If you think you've seen scary, just spend a day in her house, you'll have nightmares for months." Harry murmured with a shiver, all of the order members nodding in agreement.

**She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.**

Harry coughed and said, "She had. No one ever came by and that cake was for guests only, apparently. She was rather stubborn about throwing food away. She had always said that if you could still taste what the object of food was originally, then it was safe to eat." He gave an involuntary shudder, thinking about all of the times she had tried to feed him macaroni and cheese, along with every time he had declined said food after noticing hints of green that were definitely NOT herbs.

Other people in the room looked slightly green at that, Draco even having to stand up, after fighting his way out of the twins' arms, to retch in a corner. The room cleared up the mess as he walked back, shakily sitting down in his chair, before tasting his mouth and pulling a face. Harry just rolled his eyes and flicked his hand at the boy, smirking when he jumped from his mouth becoming instantly clean.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. **

"Oh goodness. Prepare yourselves, I feel a description of his uniform coming." Harry murmured, giggling. Those uniforms really were atrocious.

**Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. **

Harry watched in amusement as every person in the room shuddered in horror before Sirius, who had been clutching the book for dear life, finally keeled over and howled in laughter, clutching his best friend, who looked intensely pleased with the situation at hand. Harry smirked at the werewolf, who flushed, but just continued to let Sirius (_'MATEMATEMATE'_) lean against him, even after the man had stopped laughing. Harry sighed as he watched the two chairs merged, creating a comfortable looking couch.

Every couple in the room that was sitting together seemed to be sitting on rather plush looking couches. "I want a couch." He whined contritely, pouting when the room seemed to laugh at him. A letter appeared on his chest, which he picked up and read quickly.

_When you sit with your one, child, you will get a couch._

"That's the big secret to getting a couch?" He asked the parchment amusedly, getting a laughing affirmative in response. He peeked over at Voldemort, who was speaking lowly to Severus, randomly running his hands through the hair he had just obtained at odd intervals. He hoped, though this had nothing to do with the couch, that he would have him soon.

"Don't worry, Korakas." Luna said from across the room, stalling all side conversations for the moment. "It shall happen soon enough. You have been waiting for such a long time, I know you're ready, but you'll just have to sit back and wait." Harry nodded solemnly, reading between the lines and knowing Luna was telling him he would just need to wait for the man to approach him. "Okay Lachesis…" Luna smiled serenely, while Harry noticed that Voldemort had stilled, staring at the girl. "Lachesis…I've heard that name before…it has to do with the fates." He narrowed his eyes at the girl, who stared back at him, her serene smile still on her face.

Nodding minutely, the girl then looked to Sirius who was calming down and stared at him. Harry giggled and turned his head back to stare at Sirius as well. "Are you going to continue reading now?" He asked, staring even harder at the man, who nodded quickly his eyes wide.

**They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

"Which I stole the summer after my second year. They had to buy a new one, because every time they tried to touch it, it would come to life and beat the shit out of them." Harry said, grinning widely. Sirius just snorted and shook his head, continuing in his reading.

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, **

Sirius had to pause for a moment to collect himself, his voice still shaking with laughter as he plowed through the rest of the paragraph.

**-he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh. He ended up losing the battle and burst out laughing, much to the chagrin of his relatives.**

**x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x**

"TIME BREAK." Sirius cried, before reading on, his eyes glinting at knowing he probably confused more then one person with that. Harry snorted, shaking his head.

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.**

Harry shuddered, remembering this bit. That uniform was…awful. He was infinitely glad he hadn't had to wear it.

"**What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question, which he usually did now, just to piss them off.**

"**Your new school uniform," she said. St. Brutus's had started mandating a uniform, saying that the children may think twice about doing a crime when they were wearing this.**

Harry giggled at all of the appalled faces. "Lets put it this way, even in the wizarding world, there are people who are not the brightest in any sense. The same goes for the muggle world, except…I'm starting to think that even the dumbest person in our world is smarter then the dumbest person in the muggle world." Neville snorted, while the twins said, "Oh, I don't know. Crabbe and Goyle seem to be about as smart as bricks."

Harry made a noise of acceptance. "Yes, well, there are exceptions to every rule. Me thinks there has been a tad too much inbreeding in both of those lines for it to be deemed healthy." Draco snorted, clapping his hands over his mouth. Harry grinned, remembering what Draco had said to them in his second year while he and dumb Weasley had been in the Slytherin Common Room.

**Harry looked in the bowl again.**

"**Oh," he said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."**

"Mr. Potter. Please tell me how you managed to end up in Gryffindor." Harry shrugged to Severus's statement/question and said, "You'll find out soon enough."

"**Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished."**

"Because, really, paying five whole pounds for a uniform that fit was just too much." Harry said blandly, sneering at the memory.

**Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day back at his school, like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

"I actually had tried it on after it had been finished, because Petunia had told me to and that is exactly what it had looked like." Harry murmured in disgust.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry's new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, even to the showers, which was something Harry did not want to even think about, on the table.**

Sirius paused, "You know, I'm glad I won't have to give you 'the talk' or anything, but really, weren't you a bit too young to have known about sex?" Harry thought about it for a moment before shaking his head, "No, I believe people should tell any child in their care about what goes on in the world, in a way, I think coddling your child and not telling them anything of the outside world is a form of neglect." He tilted his head to the side before continuing. "If they are raised not knowing that something like that is normal, well maybe not entirely normal, given the circumstances, but normal, nonetheless, when they find out about it, usually on their own and from personal experience, it would end up being a traumatic experience."

Harry paused, his brows furrowed in thought, "For instance, a girl is never told that, if she is a virgin, her first time has the possibility of being painful, because of the hymen…she will go and have sex and because of the lack of knowledge will always connect sex with pain." He shrugged again, rolling his shoulders. "But that isn't a discussion for right now, I don't think." He said dryly.

**They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.**

"**Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

Harry saw the shocked looks from his friends' faces and waved them away. "Don't look so shocked. It's a power tactic, Vernon is merely emphasizing the pecking order, which would be Him, Dudley, Petunia, the House, the Car, the stain on the counter, then me." He said the last bit sardonically, grimacing slighty.

"**Make Harry get it."**

"See?"

"**Get the mail, Harry."**

**Harry sneered at Vernon, making the large man quail slightly. "Make Dudley get it."**

"**Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley." Vernon said fiercely, glaring at the boy.**

**Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Four things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon's sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, Petunia's monthly male fashion magazine (my boys have to look their best!), which Harry stashed away for later use (Petunia would always end up with last month's), and - **_**a letter for Harry.**_

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band.**

George pulled a face and rubbed his chest, while Fred murmured, "That sounds painful." Harry giggled, flushing slightly.

**No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives - he didn't belong to the library, not seeing the need for a library card when he could just take them, so he'd never even got rude notes asking for books back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:**

_**Mr. H. Potter**_

_**The Cupboard under the Stairs**_

_**4 Privet Drive**_

_**Little Whinging**_

_**Surrey**_

"I think they mark them that way so no one would think it to be a joke." Severus said, more as a guess then anything else.

**The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp.**

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter **_**H.**_

**Running his finger over the snake, which he crooned at in a hiss, knowing his relatives would freak out over this, he shoved it in his pocket, next to the magazine. **

"Good thinking, Mr. Potter." Severus muttered, blinking, not seeming to even realize he had complimented Harry.

**He quickly made his way back to his relatives, handing the bill and the post card to his uncle. He hastily excused himself from the table, stopping by his cupboard to stow away the magazine under his cot and put on his shoes, Harry headed out the door, making his way to the library.**

**Several minutes later, Harry came to the building in question, slinking inside. The librarian gave him the evil eye as he walked in, which was quickly wiped away when the boy's lip curled, his eyes glinting dangerously. He loved that everyone knew who he was and what he had done. One look and he could control the masses.**

"Which is different from this mess here in the wizarding world, I'm used to people doing this kind of thing out of fear, but not out of revelry…" Harry sighed softly, "being famous for not dying makes my skin itch in general. I dislike this fame, because it's not earned." He cocked his head, staring up at the cave like roof of this room. Shaking his head, he motioned for Sirius to continue. Leaving the people who had thought he loved his fame to ponder over what he had said.

**He stalked back to his corner, in the far back of the room, knowing the librarian would warn people against coming to the back. He pulled the envelope out and with shaking fingers, he broke the seal, letting out a gasp when he felt a tingle spread up his arms, reaching into his friend, as if checking to see if he was there.**

"You can feel the intentions of magic?" Sirius asked, stopping in his reading. Harry nodded slowly. "That is…incredible." Harry blinked and then snorted, shaking his head.

**Biting his lip against the odd feeling, he quickly flipped the flap-**

"Don't even start on that, Sirius." Harry said in warning when the man's face split into a grin. Sirius pouted, but went on reading.

**-, peering inside, he noted that there were three individual letters, as well as a separate envelope. Pulling the foremost letter out, he unfolded it and flattened it in front of himself, reading the letter with growing shock.**

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_**Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE**_

_**(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,**_

_**Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)**_

_** Dear Mr. Harry Potter,**_

_** We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts**_

_** School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all **_

_** necessary books and equipment, as well as directions to one Diagon**_

_** Alley.**_

_** Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July**_

_** 31.**_

_** Yours sincerely,**_

_** Minerva McGonagall**_

_** Deputy Headmistress**_

**Harry stared at the letter, his eyebrows in his hairline. His relatives had some explaining to do, that was for sure. Pushing that letter to the side, he pulled out the second piece of parchment, placing it in the spot the last letter was, after unfolding it as well.**

"Can't you skip the next letters?" Harry groused, "They're just standard…" Sirius grinned and shook his head, "Nope!" He yipped, giggling madly. Harry blinked at Sirius, before he closed his eyes with an amused smile and shook his head, resting it back against the arm of the chair.

_**HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY**_

_** UNIFORM**_

_** First-year students will require:**_

_** Three sets of plain work robes (black)**_

_** One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear**_

"I lost that thing on the first week." Draco sneered, Harry giggled, "I would say so much as lost as stolen." Fred and George flushed and glared over at their brother. "Something about how your gel smelled." He smirked in amusement at the death glares he was receiving from the twins. "Oh come off it, after years of watching him, your glares are the exact same as his and I. Am. Immune." He punctuated each sentence by lifting his right leg up and smacking it back down on the arm. Draco, who had been staring at the twins, confused, then turned bright red and squirmed in their hold, drawing their attention back to him.

"But…that is something that can be spoken about after we finish." He murmured, staring pointedly at Severus, who the tilted and jerked his head toward Voldemort. Harry blushed and nodded his head. Severus nodded minutely with a soft smile, marking down a vague note about relationships.

Sirius cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention back to him.

_** One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)**_

_** One winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)**_

_** Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.**_

_** COURSE BOOKS**_

_** All students should have a copy of each of the following:**_

_** That Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)**_

_** By Miranda Goshawk**_

_** A History of Magic**_

_** By Bathilda Bagshot**_

_** Magical Theory**_

_** By Adalbert Waffling**_

_** A Beginners Guide to Transfiguration**_

_** By Emeric Switch**_

"She had to have chosen that book for the name of the writer." Harry murmured, before pausing. "I have a feeling that most of professors at the school do that." Severus nodded, smirking. "Yes, we do. It's a standing joke amongst all of us, since Dumbledore doesn't even notice." Harry snorted, shaking his head. "That man…how in the world did he become headmaster?" Voldemort rolled his eyes, "Probably has something to do with _defeating_ Gillert."

_**One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi**_

_**By Phyllida Spore**_

_** Magical Drafts and Potions**_

_** By Arsenius Jigger**_

"Wait…" Sirius said, pausing in his reading, "How is that one like the subject?" He asked, looking over to Severus, who rolled his eyes. He opened his mouth to answer, only to be beaten to the punch by Harry.

"There's a poison, muggle, called arsenic. The symptoms of poisoning is headaches, confusion, severe diarrhea, drowsiness…if the poisoning continues for long enough, or is in a large enough amount, a person can suffer from convulsions and changes in the pigmentation of the fingernails."

He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts, "When the poisoning becomes acute, meaning that it has made the blood vessels much more permeable…symptoms may include diarrhea, vomiting, blood in the urine, cramping muscles, hair loss, stomach pain, and more convulsions. The organs of the body that are usually affected by arsenic poisoning are the lungs, skin, kidneys, and liver. The final result of arsenic poisoning is coma to death."

Harry giggled softly, "The thing about arsenic poisoning is that…if used in small amounts over a long period of time…the person won't even know that their dying."

Ginny looked over at Harry suspiciously. "Say…don't you make tea for Dumbledore everyday?" A scary smile spread across Harry's face. He looked to Sirius, who was slightly pale. He quickly turned back to the book. Severus quickly made a note on the parchment to talk to Harry about that.

_** Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them**_

_**By Newt Scamander**_

_** The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection**_

_** By Quentin Trimble**_

"Wait…that's the real name of the author?" Severus nodded, a derisive smile on his face. "That…is just too much." Harry murmured, chuckling. The children who had been at school during that year all nodded while the rest of the people there looked on in confusion. After being told that they would learn later on in the book, Sirius continued on.

_** OTHER EQUIPMENT**_

_** 1 wand**_

_** 1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)**_

_** 1 set glass or crystal phials**_

_** 1 telescope**_

_** 1 set brass scales**_

_** Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad.**_

_**PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS**_

_**ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICK**_

_** Yours sincerely,**_

_** Lucinda Thomsonicle-Pocus**_

_**Chief Attendant of Witchcraft Provisions**_

**Sighing, wondering how in bloody hell he was going to afford all of this, Harry pulled out the last letter, doing much the same as he had done with the last two. He read over it, finding the directions to Diagon Alley and to Gringotts, the wizarding bank. It also said that if a response wasn't received in three days, someone would come to pick him up.**

**Nodding to himself, he was glad that they had given him two days to find the Alley and look through it for information, even if unintentionally. He grinned, knowing he could coerce his aunt into telling him how to get to the alley.**

**Finally, he took out the second envelope inside of the outer one, he took it out and read the front, which said, '**_**Petunia**_**'. Harry rolled his eyes and broke the seal, not really caring if this was purely for his aunt.**

**He peeked inside finding yet another letter and a key. Quirking one of his eyebrows, he took the key out and stowed it in his pocket before pulling the letter out, unfolding it as well. He read through it, gritting his teeth, he slowly exhaled, reading through the letter again, oh…his aunt certainly had some explaining to do.**

Sirius went silent for a moment, looking to be reading ahead. A minute or so later, he threw the book down, which surprisingly stayed open. Breathing heavily through his nose, he yelled, "I WILL NOT READ THAT." Pointing to the book in disgust, he kicked it away. He snarled at it. Harry rolled his eyes and stood up to pick up the book. "Merlin…"

_**Hello Petunia.**_

_**As promised, I have contacted you a month before the boy starts school.**_

_**I do hope you have held your half of the promise, while him going to that school did put a damper in my plans, you seemed to have done well enough tampering his spirit. Hopefully the boy will be under my thumb enough now that you shan't have to worry about him acting up at all.**_

_**I do hope the money I'm paying you to keep him in line is worth it.**_

_**Make sure he knows nothing, that shouldn't be difficult for you, seeing how much you hate your sister, but I want him to be reliant on me for information, on everything from magic to his parents.**_

_**If you let me send a person of my choice to your house, I will send you 500 extra pounds for the month to be added to your regular monthly allowance.**_

_**Thank you for raising the way I told you to.**_

_**Continue to do so for the next 7 years and you are promised a portion of the boy's money after he's dead. **_

_**Albus Dumbledore**_

It only took a second before the people in the room were all yelling at the same time. Harry raised his hand, making them all go silent. "If I may continue, there is only a tiny bit left in this chapter. Yes, Dumbledore has completely manipulated my life, yes, it is wrong of him, but if you all have to be honest with yourselves, was this something you really couldn't see coming?"

There were a few muted headshakes and no one said anything more. "Really, we can talk about how to get back at Dumbledore after this."

**Sighing, he stood up and brushed himself off, before bending over and picking up the bigger envelope and it's contents, shoving them all roughly into the large envelope. He straightened out and walked out of the library, snarling all of the way home. Oh, he relatives were going to explain things. They were going to explain themselves, even if it was the last thing they did.**

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865/10,085

One quirk you guys should know about me is that I will never post on the thirteenth. It has nothing to do with superstition, I just really REALLY hate that number. Don't ask me why, I really don't know. Which means, you will either get two chapters one after another or one chapter will be delayed by a day.

Also, with how many reviews I've been getting, it's going to be almost impossible to answer all of them, so I'm just going to answer all of them generally. Let it be known, though, that I do indeed read through each and every comment and love it when you guys review or add this story to the alerts. That is my driving force in writing this, to be totally honest.

The next chapter is going to take longer to get out, because it is all going to be written by my hand. How fun, yeah? Anyway, I hope this it to you guys' liking. It was a bit of a pain to write, but it was fun, nonetheless.

Okay, so, I've finally got most of the pairings figured out the way I want them. Yes, I do take all reviews into consideration before making decisions, but there is a basic plot that I'm following and some pairings just aren't going to work with said plot, if you don't see a pairing that you had wished to see, put it down in your next review and if or when I make a new story, I will try my hardest to put that pairing in.

Harry/Voldemort (submissive/dominant)

Severus/Neville/multi (equal partnership)

Twins/Draco (dominant/submissive)

Remus/Sirius (dominant/submissive)

Lucius/Narcissa (submissive/dominant)

Ginny/multi (Changes per pairing)

Luna/No One

Tonks/Not Applicable

So. I guess I should explain all of my pairings.

Harry is going to be submissive to Voldemort, but that doesn't mean he's just going lay down and take it. (HA.)

Severus and Neville aren't going to have a monogamous relationship, their first time will be just the two, but I can't see it being entire monogamous. It's not going to be a relationship of love, though they may end up loving each other, it's not going to be…er it's hard to explain, so I think I'd best just show you in by means of story, yes?

I don't think I have to explain the twins and Draco or Remus and Sirius.

Lucius is going to be submissive to Narcissa. You don't have to be male to be dominant.

I've never seen Ginny as being with one person. So, she's not going to be with one particular person in this story. Also, considering that there will be some people she will kill right after having her fun with them (having more fun after having fun?), I doubt her relationships would last that long.

Luna is going to be willingly celibate. I'm not going to explain why, you'll find out in the second book/fanfiction/whatever.

Tonks is not going to play a big role in this story. She is going to be in it as that of an auror. I'm thinking about bringing her mum in as a lawyer, both of them working for the dark side for legal issues and Tonks spying for Voldemort on the Order. Who she dates has no really meaning to the story and would only be for you guy's fulfillment. If y'all really want to see her with someone, please let me know. She can even be one of Ginny's flavors of the week, if you really want me to make her one.

ALSOALSO. Every time I go to type the word wand, I accidentally end up typing the word 'wang' and, me being the childish person I am, am like "OMG wand = wang!" and end up giggling for five or so minutes.

Also, about Harry letting Narcissa coddle him…coming from experience, from someone who didn't receive a normal amount of attention as a child, I pretty much take affection from anyone who gives it to me, in any way they give it. This is how I'm making Harry. I'm 19 years old and love it when people coddle me, because that didn't happen a lot in my childhood. I'm pretty much just pushing my personality into Harry, so all of my quirks are his quirks, all of my needs are his needs. You get what I'm saying? I'm not writing him over the top, I'm just writing Harry the way I would write myself. I'm sorry if that bothers you, but…yer.


	4. Not Dead Yet! I promise

Hi guys. I swear I'm not dead! I'm actually almost done with the next chapter, I'm just having a tiny bit of trouble with the last part, so please don't worry or anything.

At the pregnancy at 23 bit…sorry if I offended anyone, as if her age could explain why I'm upset, or well, not upset…just worried. It more has to do with that she and her current boyfriend are **NOT **financially stable in the slightest and they don't do things that will help them support a child.

I'd chalk it up to not thinking straight because I was sick at the time, but I don't think it would take away from the offense. But, again I'm sorry. –bows– I honestly never meant to offend anyone by my statement and I really do feel bad that I did.


	5. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Okay, so, I know you all have been waiting really patiently for an update for a while.

That 'being sick' thing turned into having to visit the hospital and I've found out that I have kidney stones and may need to have surgery.

I really am sorry about the wait. I'm going to the urologist on Friday, hopefully it will be good news.

Again, I'm really sorry about the lack up updates, I'm just currently either in a lot of pain or drugged up.

This is probably going on a temporary hiatus until I get my health figured out.


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